‘Thank You’ Goes a Long Way
October 31, 2008
In 1955, Walt Disney raised the bar for customer service policies when he created Disneyland. Many companies including the YMCAs around the country, adopted Disney’s policies about the “customer is always right” and the policies that provided its patrons with the best service and facility that could be provided.
Training for jobs would take weeks rather then a few days, in order to train workers how to treat and handle each problem that a patron may have. But times are different now. Working in a service position can be very difficult and unfair. Being treated like an incompetent fool is not worth minimum wage.
More often nowadays, rude customers come to service desks with malicious comments and complaints, and after they are assisted, the worker does not always receive a “thank you” attached. Most of the time the customer scoffs away looking annoyed.
The question is: are rude customers always right? Of course not; everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes teenagers feel like self respect is of a higher value to them, so they defend themselves when they are being treated poorly by a customer. Their job may be on the line, but to the teenager, losing their job at their place of work is not the end of the world.
This attitude towards rude customers may have to do with normal, every day problems. Everyone gets stressed out, but sometimes people do not check their problems at the door.
Maybe the cashier at Centennial Beach is sick of hearing people complain about the water being too cold. Or maybe the customer service representative just got their head torn off by an angry mother and does not have enough patience to answer your questions nicely.
There could be a million different situations that cause a worker to be in a sour mood. It could also be the widely used recorded machines that some corporations use in place of their human service desks.
Telephone service lines are now automated with a monotone voice that tells you what buttons to press, which in turn lead you to another voice with more buttons to push. It is not a real person who can answer your questions, only an impersonal recorded voice. It can take more than ten minutes to get an answer, when a regular conversation could take less than a few. If efficiency is what companies are shooting for, maybe there should be less recorded voice and more one-on-one conversation.
Teenagers are not used to great customer service because the service that they have received their entire life has not been as helpful and personal as past generations. It is not normal anymore to greet someone that you are not acquainted with. The lack of interest in people’s problems is the cause of sub-par service.
The only way to help society, and reverse this bitter behavior is to follow the golden rule. Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
By Kelsie Meier, editor-in-chief
