Why Do You Work With The Public?

Crappy customer service

Published on May 14, 2008 By MasonM In Blogging

On my way home yesterday I made a quick stop to grab a bite to eat. As I was in a hurry I violated one of my own rules and stopped at a fast food joint; Arby's.

As far as fast food goes I think Arby's is a little better than most of them. When I walked up to the counter I saw a large sign that listed some specials for each day of the week. Yesterday's special was a buck off a combo meal. Cool. I ordered a combo, the girl rang it up, I paid thinking it seemed a tad high, and looked at my receipt. She hadn't given me the buck off.

I asked her about it, saying that I thought I was supposed to get a dollar off the meal. Her response? "You didn't ask for it".

Huh? I challenged her saying that since when does a customer have to ask for a posted special when it's right there on the damn sign. She said "Most people mention it".

I replied "Most employees know how to do their damn job." I was getting a bit angry that this little bimbo was trying to tell me that it was my fault that she had made a mistake. Another, more experienced person walked over to see what was going on as she could see I was angry. I explained what had happened and that the little bimbo was trying to blame me, the customer, for her mistake.

This other person quickly corrected the mistake and refunded me my dollar plus the tax on that dollar, and as I waited for my food I saw the more experienced person speaking with the manager and then the manager speaking with the bimbo. The manager came over and apoligized to me for the problem and said that the bimbo was new and that perhaps she needed some additional training in customer service. I agreed with that completely and thanked her for her apology.

Some people should simply not work with the public.

Comments (Page 2)

MasonM

on May 15, 2008

I'm with Mason. People get paid to do their job then turn around and treat customers like an inconvenience. Fast food is a prime example...but every aspect of customer relations in this country is suffering. I, as a customer, refuse to be belittled or ignored. Mason whips out his Sam Eliot voice and his mountain man beard and will get some attention. I don't have those attributes, but over the years I have developed a pretty good "glare". Putting on the glare and reducing the space between me and the offender ususally works wonders.

I agree that customer service in this country is really on the down slide but there are still a few good places out there. I recently had a wiring problem with my truck. I stopped at a dealership in Salt Lake City, the shop foreman found and fixed the problem quickly as he had seen it before, and then sent me on my way without even charging me for the repair.

MasonM

on May 15, 2008

No insult intended Mason but your picture does look like someone I wouldn't wanna get mad.

That's intentional and no offense taken. In my line of work you go into a lot of really bad parts of cities. Truck stops and warehouses aren't in the ritzy areas, and there are a lot of scumbags around. Looking like someone who would rather kill you than talk to you comes in handy in these places.

MasonM

on May 15, 2008

You know what a lot of them do? Charge you and pocket the buck! Sad to say but this is true!

I don't think she was smart enough for that, besides, she rang it up at full price not the discount price. She was just stupid.

MasonM

on May 15, 2008

Ya know, it's that young woman, that made the mistake, that will be blaming her husband for her mistakes, blaming everyone but herself throughout her life, unless she wakes up and smells the coffee.....

Exactly. Had she simply admitted her mistake and made it right there wouldn't have been a problem. I didn't get angry until she tried to blame me, the customer, for her mistake and made no offer to make it right.

MasonM

on May 15, 2008

I would like to send kudos (or karma?) to an outfit here in the Swirling Epicenter called "Souper Salad". Every time I go in there, they have the newspaper specials by the cash register and if you didn't bring in you weekly coupon or whatever, they swipe the one they have to insure you get your meal for the lowest possible price.

Now that's customer service and I'll bet they do an excellent business. Someone there understands the concept that the customer should always fell like they are getting more than they are paying for even if it's something intangible like superior service.

CharlesCS

on May 15, 2008

That's intentional and no offense taken.

Well, your right, I didn't mean it in a bad way though. Or am I still putting my foot in my mouth?

In my line of work you go into a lot of really bad parts of cities. Truck stops and warehouses aren't in the ritzy areas, and there are a lot of scumbags around. Looking like someone who would rather kill you than talk to you comes in handy in these places.

Makes perfect sense. In my line of work, customer service, I have to treat each person who calls as if they have my job in their hands. Of course abuse is not tolerated but even on our worst days we have to be in a good mood.

MasonM

on May 15, 2008

In my line of work, customer service, I have to treat each person who calls as if they have my job in their hands. Of course abuse is not tolerated but even on our worst days we have to be in a good mood.

I'm quite good dealing with my customers and often get positive phone calls back to my company for the service I provide them. For the most part they know why many of us maintain a rather rough looking appearance and as long as we're clean and don't look or smell like we haven't had a shower in a month they're good with that.

CharlesCS

on May 15, 2008

Yea, same here. I actually get a few customers who ask for me by name, which is a bit annoying because there are 4 of us and anyone of us can help them. Sometimes I'm a bit too busy and when they ask for me it's usually for something we already spoke about so that's OK, a follow-up. But when it's a completely new call, it just gives me more work while the others get less. But, hey. I try to look at the positive, the more work I do and the better I do it, the more props I get by the management.

You know, I would definitely like to meet you in person someday Mason. You seem like a great person and thought I am not much of a drinker, I wouldn't mind having a beer with you just because it's not easy to find such decent people out there anymore. At least not from my point of view.

If you ever in West Palm Beach again, remember you'll have a nice cool beer waiting here for ya.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!