Customer Service???

Whatever happened to excellent customer service? Is the failure of workers in service heavy industries more of an indictment of the industries or the servers themselves? When did it become OK for servers to demand tips for merely doing their jobs? I will regale you with 3 examples of what I consider good and bad customer service.

Part One: A Portrait of the Blogger as a Young(er) Man

When in graduate school, I was gainfully employed at Toys R Us. I worked there for 6 years, enough time to get vested in their 401 K plan! Employees at TRU at the time did not receive discounts, worked long hours, and exerted their efforts for pay that was close to minimum wage. We had to endure screaming kids, the parents who spoiled them and let them run wild in the store while they berated us, and piped-in music that seemed to repeat every 4 songs (if I heard "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" once during a shift, I would hear it 20 times..no exaggeration). The employees even turned off the speaker in the breakroom, as those fleeting moments were the only ones where we could enjoy a brief respite from the music.

Even then, the one thing that I would enjoy was trying to make a kid and/or their parent happy. It was not because there was a monetary reward for doing it and it was not because the parent or child was a friend of mine; it was a chance to see joy on someone else's face for a job well done. I was the guy who would crawl throughout the storeroom to find that last EZ Bake Oven during the holidays. I was the one who would counsel kids on which Star Trek figure to buy based on the difficulty of finding certain ones. I would counsel parents on which video games were appropriate and seek to educate myself on the games themselves in order to better serve them. The customers took notice of this, and soon they started seeking me out even on days where I was not on duty. They tended to buy more, and when we were out of stock they would actually wait until we were restocked in order to buy from our store. Everything was done with a smile, and never was there a tip taken (although numerous tips were offered). The reward was the knowledge that I was doing my job. There was no sense of entitlement, nor was there ever a feeling on my part that I was put upon. We all have choices; if we do not like our work, we should QUIT. No one is entitled to anything. During my time at TRU, I received numerous merit raises and customer service citation pins (keep in mind that I was only a part-time worker who was attending graduate school full time!). When I finally decided to quit, my manager sat me down and asked me what he could do to make me stay. I was flattered, but at the same time I was confused. I mean, everyone sees customer service as I do, right?

Part 2: Aaron's adventures with Best Buy

My friend Aaron loves his Xbox 360. something that I purchased for him a few years ago from my (then) favorite shopping outpost, Best Buy. Do you remember that Circuit City commercial? The one that starts off in a nameless parking lot with the wife telling the husband "we are only going in to get [batteries]. Nothing else, OK?" and the husband silently nods in agreement-only to start giggling like mad upon entering Circuit City and running down the aisles excitedly while the wife just shakes her head in exasperation? Well, that was me in Best Buy. When I bought the XBox for Aaron, I also purchased the replacement plan, which provides for an automatic replacement of your system at the store in the event something goes wrong with it. In retrospect, I was being pretty smart about it, as the "red rings of death" phenomenon (you Xbox owners know what I am talking about) was not yet widely known. Aaron's system died this past December, and he took it to his local Best Buy, the one located in North Olmsted, OH (do NOT shop there). He was informed that the systems were out of stock due to the holiday season. Aaron understood. For a solid month, he dutifully went there to try to get his system-only to be told each and every time that they were out of stock. But Artful, you may ask, why didn't they just hold one for him when they arrived? Because they told Aaron, a loyal BB customer, that it was against STORE POLICY to do this (nevermind that we had purchased the plan). At one point, he was told by an employee to return the system to Microsoft! WTF??? Were they going to refund the plan he had purchased? NO! The Microsoft return was the manufacturer's warranty that would result in 4 weeks without his system while it was being repaired, but he was entitled to a new system. The personnel never tried to special order a system for him nor were they able to offer suggestions. They refused to hold the systems when they were in stock, and they refused to call him when they arrived.

Last week, Aaron called other Best Buys and was told that there was one system left in the Parma store. He was in his car and at the store within 15 minutes. As he entered the store, someone was walking out of the store with the system tucked under his arm. WHAT? Aaron, my friend and pastor, and to his credit, lost it. He went in and raised heck with the manager, and the manager, to his credit, finally DID HIS JOB. HE called around to all Best Buys to find a system for Aaron and had it shipped directly to the store. My hope is that Aaron is playing with the system as we speak. Still-7 weeks to fix an issue, and the reason was that Best Buy's customer service, in general, has started to fail. A shame, really. They used to be so awesome. Where has customer service gone.

Part 3: Tip jars at service counters.

AAARGGH!!! What the heck is up with these? Fast efficient service with a smile is what these ppl (baristas, fast food clerks, etc) are paid salaries for. What is up with the tip jar? I hate the virtual "holding the hand out" that accompanies my visits to Starbucks. Truth be told, I would be more inclined to give tips where there was NO tip jar. I have also never witnessed anyone adding anything significant to the jar save a few pennies.

Customer service, people! We should demand it!

Now, excuse me while I place a coffee mug for tips on my desk....