Good customer service can be hard to find

Providing good customer service is easy, but for some it seems like it’s the most difficult and excruciating thing they’ll ever have to do.
As someone who worked in a large chain store through high school and college, I quickly learned the value of providing good service to customers. Although they may rarely compliment you for providing it, they are quick to complain if it’s not. And boss people, the ones who are responsible for any raises you may receive, remember those complaints when it’s time to up your salary.
Plus people who think you are being nice are more likely to be nice in return, which can make a sometimes meaningless-appearing job seem more tolerable. And though there are exceptions to this rule, as some people can be cranky and even hostile no matter how good you treat them, in general it works.
I no longer work in retail, but because of my experience I’m usually more critical, and complimentary, of bad, and good, customer service. Several recent experiences have left me both angered and hopeful at the current status of customer service.
At the former retail store I once worked at, which earned its reputation by making the customer No. 1, that standard no longer seems to apply. Where once employees were required to find items customers were looking for, and then help them with any questions they had about the item, people are now lucky if the employee even tells them the correct spot to find an item if asked.
Looking for sun screen at the store recently for my son, two employees, who were difficult to locate, pointed me to a section of the store that was not correct, even as I pointed out I looked through those aisles to no avail. I finally found it, mysteriously in domestics and not health & beauty aid, but without their help.
I understand those employees are probably not paid enough, to their thinking, but if someone has a job, and that job is to provide good customer service, the person should do the job to the best of his or her abilities no matter how much it pays. As the employee shows others good skills, better opportunities will become available.
Another experience was even more disheartening. My wife and I had our taxes done by an organization that guarantees 100-percent satisfaction. Our experience there was anything but satisfying, as it took the tax preparer nearly two hours for a job his boss said should have only taken 30 minutes.
In addition, other employees there were goofing around and occasionally used cuss words, something both of us, and probably our 4-year-old son, heard. The tax preparer also did not include some information we requested he needed to incorporate, less than 30 minutes after finishing, forcing us to file an amendment to our return.
I called his boss when we noticed he never included this information like we asked, and also told her about our other experiences there.
She immediately apologized and offered us a refund of the amount we paid for the service. I wasn’t looking for a refund, but I accepted the gesture as a token of her genuine interest in making us not upset with her company.
Unfortunately, she never gave us the refund, noting the amended tax return would give us an amount equal to the refund, even though that money was ours to begin with and we didn’t originally receive it because of a mistake her company made.
She also said in talking with her employees she didn’t believe our claims they were swearing. I heard it, my wife heard it and now she was siding with people would were probably lying because they didn’t want to get in trouble. I had no reason to tell her something untruthful, as I wasn’t looking for a refund and was only trying to point out something she might like to be aware of, but now being called a liar, for better or worse, was just plain upsetting. Needless to say, we’ll never use them again, and we’ll make sure we let everyone we know to avoid the place.
Not all of my recent customer service experiences have been a nightmare. At a fast-food restaurant last week, an employee there was super nice, and even asked my son if he’d like an extra toy they give away. I was impressed, because they didn’t have to do it, and my son loved it, well, because it was another toy.
The gesture earned my respect and future returns to the restaurant. And in this economy, this proves that good customer service may be the key factor in allowing some businesses to succeed when others will fail.