I know you 've probably heard people say “It’s all about the Benjamins baby”. Well, I'm here to tell you that it just isn’t true. For those that are not “Hip” like me, Benjamin refers to the hundred dollar bill. Ok, so I just gave away my not-with-it-ness by using the word Hip. I don’t even know what term they use these days for being "hip" but you know what I mean (hey, my Mom still says groovey!). The point is, that it really is all about the attitude ba-by (and please don't give me yours).
These days, it seems like I ultimately look for a good attitude/good customer service more than I do the actual product itself. I avoid some establishments and go out of my way to go to others based solely on the service that I receive. Some bad attitudes may be due to the lack of job satisfaction, but I truly believe that some people would be miserable no matter where they work. I used to work with some of these people and sometimes I just had to bite my lip because I really wanted to say something. Every once in a while I would slip when it just got too much to take. If I felt I was getting close to saying something, I would sometimes retreat to my office and read some Bible verses and try to remind myself to keep quiet.
Recently though, I felt compelled to write two letters because of the great service that I had received. The first one was at a local drug store. I stop there often and the people are always friendly and the place is really clean and organized. If I can’t find something, the clerks are always glad to help me out. They actually know me now when I come in and always call me by name. I wrote to the company and told them how much I liked shopping at this particular store and they passed it along to the manager. The next time I stopped in, the manager actually thanked me! I occasionally stop in at this other drug store depending on where I am and it is messy, cluttered and the people working there are not very friendly (and the bathroom is atrocious).
The other company I wrote to, believe it or not, was a fast food place called Burgers-R-Us (not their real name but you get the picture.) When I get to the drive up window I am greeted with an Eeyore-sounding voice that says “can I help you”. I give my order and pull up to the first window. The girl at this window then says the price and nothing more. After I get my change, she says “pull up”. At the pickup window, however, it is a whole different ball game. The window opens and a young girl with a bright smile greats me with a happy “Good morning, here’s your order”. Then she repeats what I ordered. After that she says “Have a great day” and I tell her to do the same. I usually only stop there a few times a month but this girl knows that I like mustard and puts some in my bag without me asking. I emailed this company and told them about both girls and made a comparison between the two. I got a nice email back, thanking me for taking the time to comment and they also sent me a coupon for a free burger (I didn’t expect to get anything but it was a nice gesture. Shoot, I really didn't expect and answer to my email). The next time I stopped in, the first girl had changed her speech but not her attitude. She still sounded like Eeyore but she did say “good morning, can I take your order”? The other girl smiled even more than usual and it made me wonder if the comments had gotent back to them both.
It's so nice to hear something positive and not always the negative stuff. I don’t know how many times I’ve shopped at Walmart and the check-out clerk starts complaining that she has to work ALL day or that she is hot or whatever she feels like complaining about that particular day. I think that is why I like my new job so much. The people there are always telling me how much they appreciate that I am there and that I am doing a great job. And I always make sure to answer the phone in a chipper voice because I actually care about the person on the other end of the line (plus I don't want to sound like Eeyore).
At my old job, it seemed like people loved to dwell on the negative things. See, you CAN make a difference if you speak up and say something positive.
Have a wonderful day!
10 comments:
Grouchy cashiers in Wal-mart? They are a dream compared to the K-Mart cashiers (of the stores that remain open)K-Mart always had the whiney employees and the cashiers in particular ALL had one thing in common. They all had long hair that had not been washed for a LONG time. One continuous row of greasy-haired cashiers!
As far as customer service, it has definitely gone down hill in today's society. We are all less personable overall. Maybe we should all build big front porches on the front of our houses again, where you could say hi to your neighbors and to people passing on the street. Now, people stay hidden on the back decks (and we were always in the minority for that too) and if they are back there, they sit there and watch their kids come over and trample on your newly planted flowers or let their dogs run off their property and terrorize the neighbor kids or leave a load on your lawn. No consideration in the community or in the workplace. Then it flows over to the customer from supposed "service providers". You know, to SERVE. They need to look the word up and then rework their employee training programs.
I shock service providers when they getting ready to end a call with me and I tell THEM, "Have a great day!" I put them in shock every time.
Since Comcast made the top ten for poor service again this year and for good reason, after numerous problems with getting our phone, cable and fax lines hooked up properly and a number of other added problems that would take too long to list, I talked to two different Comcast reps throughout those couple of weeks that took the time to do their job right the FIRST time, did it with a pleasant and helpful attitude and showed that they had a desire and took pleasure in helping to work out a problem for me. I asked each of them for their names (and since many have fake names) asked if they had an employee id # that I could refer to and could I have the name and address of the person that I could send a letter telling them of the person that provided me excellent service. I told them, "Tell me the name of the person that it will benefit YOU the most, since YOU helped me out so much today." (once person really took me seriously when, after a technician failed to show up for a scheduled day/appt time, I explained how much having to wait another week or more would adversely affect my husband's business, since he was at that time working from home. She pulled out all the stops and had everything worked out and had someone rerouted and we had a technician here later on the SAME day) They are so happy to have their good work noticed. It encourages people to continue to do a better job. They don't always get positive reinforcement from their superiors so it's nice to hear it from someone! This wasn't always needed as much when I think society overall was a little nicer to one another but it makes me feel good to put a smile on someone's face in their work place if they have done an exceptional job and I walk out feeling good too. We both have better days as a result.
Blogger won't let me get to Kaitlin's blog. Anyone else having this problem?
That's weird. Now it's OK.
Operator error.....
Ahhhhh, that's such an adorable picture of Deese!
Join me! I need all the help I can get to fight the AntiHalo Menace!
That was Rroññie, by the way!
Mrs.Beaver!
Sorry that it took me so long to get back to you. We just got internet access yesterday. However, in regards to your question of here/hear (you may have already found out the answer), I would say that it is both a spelling and a grammar mistake. Here's why:
"Here" and "Hear" are homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled differently). So, the word was obviously spelled incorrectly for that sentence. However, it is also a grammar mistake because these 2 words are different parts of speech. The person said: "I could here you laughing all the way from the bonus room." The word they used, "here", is a noun instead of the verb. "Could" is a helping verb and needs a main verb (which should have been "hear"). So, I would catagorize the mistake as both spelling and grammatically incorrect. Hope that helps. If you heard anything else, let me know.
(Hopefully this all made sense.)
ok, so I just explained this problem to my husband and now and we're debating it too!
May I quote from K's original comment on the "Shoo Fly" post.
"By the way, you two laugh a lot when you are on the phone. Yes, that's right, I can here you from here."
The word here is used twice in the same sentence.
The first "here" is not spelled correctly. It should be "hear". It is a verb.
(Some verbs are used with an object, some without. In this case the first here/hear, (s/b hear), in this particular sentence is a verb used with an object.) That's more info than any person would probably want to know but "to hear with the ear" is K's ear DOING something by "hearing". For her to "hear" us can only be a verb. She was "verbing" us from another room.
That of course, does not take much effort since we laugh hysterically quite often during phone conversations.
The second "here" IS spelled correctly. It is "here" used as a noun (referring to a place-in this instance, another room in the Beaver house)
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