Planes, Trains & Automobiles! Customer Service & Travel.

By Adam Douba

I looked up from my in-flight menu as two stewardesses wheeled in a food cart. One stewardess, a character straight out of The Stepford Wives, leaned down to take a passenger’s order. The second pulled out a tray and produced a bag of celery and carrot sticks.

Stepford Wife took one look at the bag and sighed. “No, just carrot,” she chided.

“Sorry?” asked the second stewardess.

“He wants just the carrots,” she hissed. “The carrots with ranch dip.”

“Oh, we’re all out of those.”

Another sigh from Stepford Wife. “Fine,” she mumbled, looking away, but still leaving her palm open to receive the celery and carrot sticks. Handing the bag to the passenger, she plastered on a fake smile and said sweetly, “Here you go, Sir. Enjoy.”

As they moved down the aisle, I watched as Stepford Wife continued behaving dismissively towards her coworker, while putting on her good face for passengers (not that they bought it, if the whoo-boy expression from the passenger sitting next to me was any indication).

I found myself examining the customer experience before me. How would I rate a customer service representative who was giving me the appropriate treatment but being disrespectful to coworkers? Not highly, I realized. On one hand, that kind of attitude would give me a lower opinion of the company or organization as a whole, simply for allowing this form of communication to take place between its employees. One the other hand, a two-faced customer service representative would give me the impression that the treatment I was getting wasn’t genuine – that it was all rehearsed and being acted out for me.

How do you treat the people you work with? Do you show customers politeness and put down your coworker all in the same breath? If so, I would re-evaluate the way that you do customer service. You cannot be the face of a company or business and be two-faced all at once.

When Stepford Wife asked me what I wanted for an in-flight snack, I was very tempted to say the carrots with ranch dip

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By Adam Douba

Taken from the Oculus Blog

“Is that a hair?” my friend said, scrutinizing his pasta dish. He dipped a finger into his plate and pulled out what was indeed a strand of hair. He crinkled his nose and set his fork down.

“You should tell them,” I said. His food had barely been touched.

“No, I’ll wait to see if the server notices.” He draped a napkin over his plate like it was a dead person.

I too pushed my plate away, my appetite now ruined. And we waited. Our server passed by our table a few times, failing to notice our untouched dishes. She had already come by earlier to ask how we were enjoying everything; she had done her duty.

When we asked for the bill and she came to clear our table, we were certain that she would make some comment about our plates. Instead, all we got was a: “Here’s your bill. Let me take those out of the way for ya.”

Moments later, when we saw the server that had seated us, we told her that we both left our food unfinished because of a hair that my friend had found in his plate. She apologized profusely and asked why we hadn’t mentioned anything earlier – that the chef would have prepared a second dish for us.

“We expected someone to ask us why we returned our plates almost completely full, but that never happened,” my friend said.

More apologies and consolation efforts, but by that point, it was too late. My friend and I paid the bill and were on our way.

Later, I got to thinking how easy it is to miss customer service opportunities. Our server may have genuinely neglected to see that we left our food untouched, but the result was that two customers walked. As a customer service representative it is crucial that you be a good observer. Keep your eyes open for customer dissatisfaction, as customers will not always voice their issues. In fact, most people shy away from confrontation and would rather vow never to return to an establishment than put in their complaints.

And that brings me to my second point: perhaps the server did notice that we hadn’t eaten our food but still decided to turn a blind eye to avoid confrontation. That may be a natural human instinct, but customer service representatives must be willing to place themselves in the line of fire from time to time. If they don’t hear a customer out and receive their complaints, then who will? Most customers whose service issues are satisfactorily resolved will do business again with you, but in order for their concerns to be addressed, they first need to be welcomed.

So, do your very utmost to provide attentive and reparatory service. Even if you gave your customer hairy service, doesn’t mean they have to leave with a bad taste in their mouth.

 

Post Holiday Blues!

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The holiday season is over once more.  The sparkling lights and illuminated Santa’s have been placed in their hibernation chamber until next year.  The catchy jingles and shopping mad-rush is returning to the regular grind.  The joy and laughter of family and friends have disappeared and are distant dreams.  With the subtraction of all of the holiday audio, visual and emotional stimulus, it is no wonder why we go from a “cup of holiday cheer” to “there’s a tear in my beer” in a short period of time. 

For those of us that are fortunate enough to work within the hospitality and service industry, this is especially noticeable among our colleagues and customers.  Unless you are lucky enough to make the exception list, most of us all have spent too much, consumed too many calories and somewhat ignored our responsibilities for a week or two and now it is time to get back on track and back to business.   With all the pressure, stress and monotony of everyday life making its way back into our daily schedules, it seems the happiness of the holidays is replaced the holiday blues can devour you!

Someone has to break the cycle and put some spirit back into our routines.  As customer service providers, we have to remember our customer’s feelings and relate to them, because we can!  We have all felt and we need to remember that at one point or another, we have been in their shoes.  Empathy is to understand how someone is feeling, and not to relate to their particular situation.  Have you ever been angry, sad, happy, disappointed or tired?  Yes, we all have.  Take some time to connect with your customers and relate to their feelings.  When they feel you are on their side, they will want to be on yours!  So remember to provide that cup of cheer all year long and you will receive the gift of loyalty!