As 20-somethings, we were born in an age where customer service for any company’s success was number one. Managers still went to great lengths to cure an unsatisfied customer, and gas station attendants wore large smiles on their faces at the thought of pumping your fuel. Over the course of the past two decades, however, I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that customer service has dissipated to a rare but appreciated pleasant surprise rather than the norm. Today, what we see pervasively are non-commission-based employees who find it difficult to use a calculator and even more challenging to provide any particle of assistance and self-checkouts at the grocery store that repeatedly tell you “We’re sorry; your card cannot be read” and “Please scan your item again” in annoyingly dramatic computer-generated tones. More and more you hear not of just self-righteous older individuals who have too much money for their own good refusing to give their business to organizations that have poor customer service, but of people our age—in the fun-loving and carefree 20’s—who walk out of restaurants before paying the bill and decline to support stores where employees sport bad attitudes.
The rise and wonder of this century’s technological blast has decreased the need for service employees—no more teens to pump our gas, fewer grocers to help us check out our items, and less need for detailed information about a product since hey, you can always research the product via Google before making a decisive purchase. Employees have noticeably gotten lazier, less knowledgeable about what they are selling, and oftentimes downright put out by having to assist their customers. While the age of advancement has brought about a substantial amount of ease in our daily lives, can a computer really replace one-on-one attention from an actual human being? And what has happened to customer service as a whole?
With this topic I can’t help but think about some of my all-time favorites in the area of poor customer service. Last year when the lover and I embarked on the tragically boring task of buying a refrigerator for my new house, we stared in disbelief as employee after employee spotted us pondering the giant black, overpriced Samsung and, all kidding aside, literally ran in the other direction, pretending to be busy or not see us at all. After about 20 minutes of this ridiculousness, I sought out a friendly-looking girl in the television area for some assistance with the refrigerator quest. I was met with a look up and down, a smirk, and a “I obviously don’t work in appliances”—No kidding. Although I’m not the type of person to report to a manager, I was irritated enough with the refrigerator-dubbed buying day and the impossible task of purchasing one without the help of an employee that I decided to finally take the plunge and complain. The manager, no older than myself, also smirked and gave me an answer that lost Best Buy $2000.
As for restaurant service, where do I even begin? No one minds slow service, but negligent service is another matter. Recently, lover and I went to an up-scale Beverly Hills hotspot. This “hotspot” didn’t get our drink order or water until we had been there for over 20 minutes and had already asked several people for menus. When we finally got our meal, there was a large fish scale in one of the dishes, which was choked on. The manager never came out to apologize, and when approached, rudely asked us what he should do about it. It was obvious that the restaurant took no concern over whether we had a satisfactory experience or not. Offended and completely turned-off to the restaurant, we left in a fury and with the intent to never return.
I’m personally weary of faulty machines that have replaced phone tellers, lazy and rude employees, and managers who feel that losing a customer here and there is really no big deal. The quality of service has not gotten better with the rise in technology; it has allowed people to not provide the same service they used to because machines are expected to pick up the slack. I, admittedly old-fashioned in certain areas, firmly believe that no electronic teller can replace a living, cognitive individual--please note the italicized word here.
So what does constitute good service? Some commendable examples include Zappos.com, who provides free overnight shipping and returns, 24-hour customer service with friendly and, get this, knowledgeable staff; Ebay, who stands behind their policies 100% and rarely disappoints; and yes, even the rare restaurant. Let me give you an example: when you go to a famous chef’s eatery and he not only comes out to wish the birthday girl a happy day but also takes the time to sincerely talk to each individual and get to know where they are from, what they do, and how they enjoyed the food and service experience, you know you don’t care as much about how the food tastes anymore. Providing several desserts on the house for the entire party was a nice addition too, but not much sweat off a restaurateur’s back. These small gestures, however, gained Mr. Fabio Viviani a table-full of dedicated lifelong customers (check out Café Firenze in Moorepark to see what I mean).
As a 20-something living in this world and this time, let’s continue to support the companies that provide good service and offer suggestions (read: complaints) to those who blatantly do not care about the customer or realize that it’s the public that keeps a business up and running. If you work in customer service, as many of us do in some way or another, remember that what ultimately matters to an individual is the quality of service over quality of product, that the simple concept of customer service is not a mute point in our sometimes overly-technologic society.
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