“Thanks for waiting”.*eye contact compulsory
This is the hum-drum line that I have been delivering every Saturday (sometimes with a smile) for the past year. My part-time job involves me having excellent customer service skills and if i’m not up to par…I will be sent away and forced to think about what i’ve done. Seriously.
Did you know that there is a way to measure ‘genuine interest’ in customers? By genuine interest I mean asking customers about their children, pets, dietary habits, gardening – you get my drift. This is measured by how many times I use the customer’s name, how helpful I am being, and whether I am genuinely interested in their lives. Even if i’m not interested, I have to pretend that I am. There are more and more jobs out there that place customer service at the forefront of everything that they do. Tell me, where have the broody brits gone? It seems that we are becoming a tad similar to our American cousins…happy, smiley, shiny people. It’s quite frightening.
If I fail to deliver my ‘five-star’ greeting to a customer one Saturday, would their entire day really be ruined? I’m not saying customer service is a bad thing, hell, I like to be treated with a bit of respect now and again. What I don’t like is we get punished for not performing. I dont think half of my customers realise that I am actually paid to read from a script, and god forbid I have an off day.
I mean, would a customer or any of us really stop going to our local supermarket if the woman at the checkouts was a bit moody? Personally, I find it freaky when i’m barraged with questions about my day.
I close this post by saying the fifth line of my five star greeting:
How else can I help?
