Thursday, December 29, 2005

Customer Service Vigilante

I have really had enough. Done. Finito. No more.

Today while having lunch, I was appalled at how the supervisor on duty treated one of the customers. Apparently, the order got screwed up (not the customer's fault - I was standing right there) yet the woman had such an attitude, she made him feel as if he were out of line for even asking to have the problem corrected.

The thing that bothered me more is that he was old - that is the final straw for me. I don't like rudeness in the customer service industry to begin with, but when you are rude to an old person?? Unacceptable. He was humble, approached the counter with his receipt showing that he didn't get what he ordered and she huffed and fucking puffed as if it were an incredible inconvenience for her to correct it, asking him in a snotty tone "Well, what did you order???" He had the receipt IN HIS HAND, she could have politely took it from him and looked her damn self!

I often stand by observing this type of situation with every fiber in my body saying I should do something, but then I just think Eh, it's none of my business or What a bitch or Man, I can't believe she's talking to him like that. Then I walk away pissed that I didn't do the right thing, which is to stick up for another person who is being treated poorly and call the offender out on their behavior.

I usually make the same New Year's Resolutions everyone makes; lose weight, exercise, don't smoke (ok, I don't smoke anyway), take a class, be nice to my boss, whatever. Usually, those resolutions are broken by January 2nd. What I am going to do this year is not make a resolution, per se, but launch a campaign of sorts. An action that is going to be very easy for me to do on a daily basis...

I am going to hold people in the customer service industry accountable for their poor behavior. I am going to tell whoever is committing the offense, exactly what I think of their actions. I will be as nice as the situation calls for and as diplomatic as possible, but I will NOT tolerate another year of people who get PAID to do a job serving the public, not treating the public as they should but instead treating them as if they are a annoying gnat flying around their head and the quicker that gnat is swat away, the quicker they can get back to the conversation on the phone they were having with their probably-cheating-lame-without-a-job-boyfriend.

I think if more people did this, instead of just letting people get away with unacceptable business practices, we just might have a better experience when out shopping, dining, talking to customer service representatives, going to the doctor's office and dealing with the bitchy clerk at the front desk who tells you in a snotty way that there is no way you can see the doctor this millenium if you don't have an appointment and having to pay good money for things that you are not happy with, be it a product or service or both.

So why don't you join the Customer Service Vigilante Justice Team and let's see if we can turn some of this around? I missed my opportunity today to stand up for a little old man and his wife, who looked stunned and confused because the request he made for something he paid for wasn't handled properly. Maybe he didn't realize what transpired, but I did. And from now on, I will be doing something about it.

So if you see me coming, I suggest that you be on your best behavior and provide your service with a smile. I don't care if you call me a bitch behind my back after I'm out the door, but while I'm there I better feel you lovin' your job.

2 comments:

Becky G said...

Makes me wonder how places like that stay in business. They certainly wouldn't get any more of MY business. Makes me mad just reading about it.

MamaKBear said...

I'll join your posse!