Service to the Customer

Dear service industry employees, you need to learn a very important lesson: the customer pays your salary.  This is the most important lesson for anyone to learn working in any type of service industry.

Having been on both sides of the customer service counter, as a customer service representative and as a customer, I can tell you several things for certain:

• The Customer doesn't want to hear your excuses.
• The Customer doesn't care what else is going on in your life.
• The Customer doesn't care how much work you put into something if they aren't getting results.
• It doesn't matter if the Customer is right or wrong.  Either way, your job is to do everything in your power to make them happy.
• If the customer's satisfaction isn't your primary priority, you are in the wrong industry.

In the past, I have had multiple service-oriented jobs.  I have cooked and waited tables at Waffle House.  I have worked in a call center handling customer service calls for a major credit card company.  I have managed life insurance policies.  I have scheduled home security system installations.  I have sold and delivered retail auto parts.  I have been both a cashier and a customer service associate at a Walmart store.  While the specific tasks and responsibilities at these jobs varied, I was always, first and foremost, tasked with providing excellent customer service to our customers.


Sadly, high standards for customer service are growing more and more rare, it seems.  At each of these jobs, I would have occasion to witness various of my co-workers providing less-than-acceptable levels of customer service to our customers.  And, as a customer myself, I find myself more and more often utterly dissatisfied with the quality of service I am receiving from the various businesses who get sizable chunks of my paychecks.

It seems I cannot go out shopping or running errands without having to deal with at least one service person who has a poor attitude, a surly expression, or a general air of "I don't care" or "I don't want to be here" or "I hate my job."

When I worked in customer service, I had plenty of days where I felt that way too, but I always strove to keep a smile on my face and provide the best service I could.  Even at 8½ months pregnant, I was still working to provide excellent service to Walmart customers at the service desk, often going above & beyond the minimum requirements of my job description to keep the customers happy or resolve problems and disputes.

Now, as a customer, when I don't receive the level of service I desire, I don't particularly care why.  I don't care what the excuse might be.  Either you're providing quality service, or you aren't.

• "But I really don't feel well today!"  But you're at work.  If you feel so poorly you cannot give quality service, stay home.  If you choose to come to work sick, suck it up and do your damn job.
• "Well, I've already done all I can."  Then call someone else.  Unless you are the business owner or general manager, there is always someone higher on the corporate food chain who has more power than you have and who might be able to help me.  I'm far more impressed by someone who asks for help from a higher-up than by someone who just does the minimum and then stops.
• "Well, You wouldn't get better service at any other company either."  Wanna bet?  And even if you're right about this, it doesn't mean I won't try.  Chances are, if I care to try, I can and will get better service someplace else.
• "But I have the lowest prices around."  Yes, the economy is tough, and I don't have lots of money to spend.  But if I can get better service and less stress by paying a little more, I'm totally fine with that.  With customer service, like many other things, sometimes you get what you pay for.  Kaleb's new daycare is more expensive than the old one.....but it's worth it to have him in a better school that values its clients.  Publix is a bit more expensive than Walmart.....but it's worth it because of their excellent customer service and product quality.
• "But I provide a high quality product, not like Walmart and those other cheap places."  Sorry, but I doubt you have a monopoly on quality product, and I can take my money someplace else.  Quality product is not a justification for poor service.
• "Well, policy doesn't allow me to do anything more."  Very few corporate policies are set in stone, and very few managers/bosses are going to enforce a flexible policy when it means losing business.  Business = $$$.  And $$$ is what every company is after.
• "Well, this business is my LIFE.  I pour my whole self into it!"  That's nice.  But if you genuinely care to see a business succeed, then you have to be willing to provide the quality service to back up your product, as well as the competitive prices to attract customers.  Most customers don't care how much of your blood, sweat, and tears you pour into a business if they still aren't receiving the products & services they want.
• "Everybody WANTS something from me!"  You're right!  But really, how can you justify complaining about people making demands of you when that means you have customers?!  Consider the alternative: no customers, no business.  If you're providing a good or service, you should be overjoyed that anyone wants something from you!  That means you have customers and are doing some business.  It should be your goal, and not something you see as a burden.  If you're not comfortable with people having expectations and demands of you, then perhaps you ought not be working in a service industry.

In closing, learn to separate your business life and your personal life.  Don't bring your personal problems to work, and don't take your work problems home.  Learn that excuses don't help.  Dedicate yourself to providing higher-quality customer service and a better product than your competition.

And never forget where your paycheck comes from.