Just Think

by admin on 9/04/2011

by Philip M. Anderson
Recently I went to a movie with my daughter and ordered what I always do (yes, I know it’s the worse thing you can eat), popcorn and soda.  My daughter then added a pretzel.  The person behind the counter said, no problem, but the pretzel would take about four minutes.

We were already a BIT late to the movie but I said, fine.

This is where customer service effeciency kicks in.  Rather than put the pretzel in to start the four minutes, this person got the popcorn, and the drink, took my money and gave me my change and THEN said, I’ll get that pretzel in for you and it will be ready in about four minutes.

Seriously?

Please, just think.  This isn’t rocket science here.  And before you go off on me and say, “Well, they’re only getting minimum wage so cut them some slack”, I’ll say, what, if you give them more money?  They will then have more common sense?

I don’t buy it.  I just needed to vent on this one.  Thanks for reading and remember, expect the most but give even more.

aphilip369@aol.com

There are 2 comments in this article:

  1. 20/12/2011Yvonne A Jones says:

    Hi Phil,

    Minimum wage may really have very little to do with it. I think it a challenge for some people to multi-task and understand how to prioritize. I’ll give you an example of two hairdressers I’ve dealt with in the past.

    1) Salon has 5 clients. She’s attending to one and four are just sitting there….waiting….and wondering when they’ll get out of the salon.

    2) Salon has 5 clients: She washed one person’s hair and she’s sitting with the conditioner in her hair, the other is under the dryer, she’s working on one in her chair and she just rotates them so that in two hours they’re all done.

    I know this scenario would have been better created for a woman, but you get my point. Some people focus on just one task at a time and anything else confuses them.

    I do understand how the service you experienced is not a great example of putting the customer’s needs first and perhaps just a little customer service training would be helpful. :)

  2. 20/12/2011admin says:

    Yvonne, thank you so much for your comment. Where I agree with you, in general, I still think there is a mindset of people who get paid minimum wage that says, “Why SHOULD I do the best that I can if I’m only getting paid THIS much?” I think the two go hand in hand, one begetting the other. But, as you say, with simple training, and, more importantly, with systems in place, these two examples should not ever surface in these situations.
    -Phil

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