Where has our pride gone for a job well done?

By Mona Piontkowski (www.SeminarInformation.com)

On my recent trip to Europe I forgot how nice it was to have the service charge included in the price of my meal. How many times have you sat in a restaurant and agonized over how much to tip for the so-so service you just received - knowing that you'll have to get up and bolt from the table if you tip too little as you hurry towards the exit.

It was interesting the amount of pride I encountered - as even the least paid workers did the best possible job - as if I were the most important customer they encountered that day. Where has this pride of accomplishment gone in this country? How many times have you stood in a store while the clerk chats away on the cell phone oblivious to your very existence. You know if you questioned them their immediate answer probably would be - hey I don't get paid enough to give you service. How many times have you had to send back the too cold soup or the underdone steak? And then be faced with the sigh and wrath of the server. Even in the drive thru when asked "anything else" and you ask for ketchup - you get that sigh. When did we stop taking pride in what we do and develop that sigh - you know, you've heard it.

Why is it necessary for seminar companies to give courses like "The Basics of Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer Service" (http://www.seminarinformation.com/event/15498)? Shouldn't we already know how to knock the socks off of our customers so we can sell them new socks?

Where has our sense of a job well done gone? Why do we need courses on "How to Communicate with Diplomacy, Tact and Credibility" (http://www.seminarinformation.com/event 22381) - have we forgotten how to even speak to one another civilly and truthfully let alone give one another the service we've paid for.

Maybe the 'new' world should look to the 'old' world on how to treat customers. When did we stop doing our job with the "sense of pride and a job well done" mentality? Why do we demand tips and then gripe when we don't get enough for our perceived service?

Shouldn't I be able to get a cup of $5 coffee from my local null without feeling obliged to drop something in the tip jar?

Comments

[texas dermatologist]

Time heals everything, with a little patience we can achieve.

[Sam Miller]

I think the television is eroding our ability to interact with each other in a respectful and civil way. People are increasingly leading isolated lives, often doing two jobs to just get by, and spending their spare time in front of the television. We need to change that if we are going to go back to the old ways.

Sam Miller -
www.walkersresearch.com
Walker's Research - A quality source of business information for sales and marketing

[Paul Gerardi]

I'm part of the "crossover" generation. Having lived during the time of great customer service (and being part of the working class that provided it at the time)I simply cannot understand WHAT HAPPENED to quality customer service as we have improved the technology with which we should be able to give even better service. I teach it to my children. But does "no one else" do the same? IMHO, as a society, we have replaced empathy and compassion with just tolerance. We have forgotten the "do unto others" part of the golden rule and are only concerned with how we want it done unto us. We have forgotten that service isn't something we get, it's something we give. We have disconnected from each other, and removed personal responsibility from the picture as we have replaced personal contact with remote access. Until each of us once again starts to think of others as much as of ourselves I don't think that there will be any general return to quality service.

[Bill Newman]

It's not because of email or technology. It's because our culture is insisting that no one be held accountable for their actions unless they are the successful people all little people love to hate. This is why we have unions, welfare, affirmative action, proposed government healthcare. We have moved away from conservative moral standards and embraced a lazy immoral hedonistic lifestyle. And we suffer for it in many ways.

[Mona Piontkowski]

Ron:

Great point. The more we've become technological the more we seem to demand constant communication. How did we ever shop for groceries, for example, without calling up someone (who obviously has nothing better to do than wait for our call) and describe the entire contents of the frozen food secion. The less human contact we have the more we crave contact and because we aren't there in person the normal plesantries of person to person contact are forgotten. The ramifications of this is mind-boggling. How will the generation of email/cell phones ever get together - are we looking at the end of civilization as we know it? I'm guilty as the next - I'm sure my credit card company thinks I'm a shut in - it's the only way I shop.

[Ron Hayes]

It all started with e-mail. Think about it - e-mail, instant messaging, texting, blogging, social sites, these methods of non-verbal communication have caused us to forget the pleasantries that led to good customer service. They have also increased our "need" to be in constant communication with friends or relatives. Thus, the clerk talking on the cell phone while a customer waits to be served. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give up my e-mail for anything but the rising generations have become so fixated on communication, they have forgetten how to be polite about it.