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Back To The Basics

© Lea Moore

Have you been to the bank lately? To the department store? To the local cafe for coffee? Have you noticed something happening to the service you receive? I have. And I find myself wanting to step back in time by about 20 or 30 years, without losing the advantages of our technology.

I want to go back to a time when the banker called me by my name when I walked through the door, and asked how things were going. I want my waitress to smile and act like she enjoys serving my coffee - or, at the very least, to remember to bring my cream after the second attempt. And, it would be nice to buy a pair of slacks and a skirt from a cashier who isn't scowling at me from behind the counter because I handed her coupon for %20 off that will make her job just a little inconvenient.

In all the hustle and bustle of the twenty-first century, with the computers and the fax machines, we often lose our sense of individuality - even our humanity - when it comes to dealing with people and providing services. Consumers are disrespected and business owners don't even want to give you a smile when you walk through the doors of their establisments. People become numbers to bank and no one knows your face. The voice on the other end of the phone belongs to a computer instead of a person.

When you contact your "customer service representative" (after having punched 75 buttons on the phone to get to him or her, and ask why they still haven't changed your mailing address after the six previous phone calls in the past three months, you get put on hold for forty-five minutes and then told that you must not have called because there is nothing in the computer to note that you made any previous contact. They don't even tell you they will fix the problem.

What ever happened to the age-old practices of "Service with a smile" and "The customer is always right"?

Well...

It probably left with the fourteenth obnoxious customer of the day, just about 29 minutes and 47 seconds after arriving at work, with a smile - determined to remain calm and collected no matter what was said. And, because of the "attitude" he received, he won't be back again.

Next thing you know, he's on the phone to five of his closest friends, who also do business with your company. The next day, they all call to cancel their orders.