Posted on 06/02/2004 5:40:46 AM PDT by Maria S
So I'm waiting at the airport gate for a plane to the West Coast, when I learn it's just been delayed a minimum of two hours. I go up to the airline agent to find out if there are alternative flights to the same city.
"How should I know?" she blasts.
"I don't know," I answer, "maybe because you WORK HERE?!"
I guess I was stunned by her rudeness. But I shouldn't have been. I see it more and more.
Those sympathetic to this airline worker might say it's the hours, the pressure or the industry itself. I don't buy it. After all, it's not as if I can just pop on my show and be rude if I've had a hard day.
My dad was a big believer in treating people well, oftentimes even when he himself wasn't well. His theory was, "It's not the other guy's fault you're having a bad day."
But something has happened in this country today where the behavior that stands out is the smile, the laugh, the extra service. It's sad that we have become so accustomed to bad service that we're shocked when we get good service. My parents' generation taught me the customer is always right. These days, it seems the customer is wrong, too.
I guess there's something to that . . . that we all become so frazzled, so angry and so short-tempered that we act frazzled and angry and short-tempered. What's remarkable to me is how this permeates whole generations. The other day at a drive-through, I reminded the teenage girl serving me that she forgot my drinks. She looked at me, hissed, rolled her eyes, and then took her sweet time getting me the sodas.
Now keep in mind I never yelled at the girl, never snapped at the girl, never did anything to make her the pill she was. I never told the girl, "Hey, you idiot . . . you forgot something here!" I simply reminded her of an oversight. All I got was 'tude.
It's the tollkeeper at the bridge, the woman who serves you coffee at the shop, the computer help desk guy on the phone. It's all of these places, all of these venues and all of these professions.
Some might argue it's the pay in some of these professions that keeps the employees rude. I don't buy it. What could explain the bank branch manager who couldn't be more indifferent or the CEO who couldn't be more dismissive? Believe me, I've seen rich jerks and I've seen poor jerks. Trust me when I say that jerkery knows no financial pedigree.
What's happened in our society is that we have stopped caring about our society. We forget the little things, so it's no wonder some of us screw up the big things. Me? I try to work hard on the little things. I know it's not much, but on the 27th of each month, every month, every year, I do something special for my wife - a small gift, a dinner out, I don't know. It heralds the first day of our first date. And we've been doing it now for more than 20 years. Trust me, I don't break the bank for the occasion, but I do mark the occasion. Because that little date is a big thing to me.
And trust me again when I say I can be just as short-tempered as the next guy . . . I am of Italian descent, after all! But I try not to start out that way, and my days at work are much more constructive and pleasant when I am not that way. That's the idea - to look at the good ideas, the good possibilities and the good results.
My mom was prone to using a lot of overrun phrases. One of her favorites was the old "honey" over "vinegar" line, that we can get more being nice than being nasty. She was right then. She's right now.
Part of the problem with service in this country is we don't honor it like we once did. There's nothing wrong or evil about having a bad day. There's everything wrong with making others have to have it . . . with you.
So then what - get into an argument with somebody over how you weren't trying to be an a$$hole?
I was at a nursery the other week looking for plants. The young man who assisted me went out of his way to help me and my friend. He couldn't have been more than eighteen.
When I encounter polite people in public I try to always compliment them on their behavior.
That's not possible! :)
Ah, that's the true test, isn't it. I am always polite, but my test comes when I am in turn treated rudely. I always respond in kind. I don't like that. Working on it.
In the NE, well it's the NE.
You were on your employer's time. You should either clock out or answer the customer's question and then clock out before you die.
I couldn't agree more. I've been dealing with the public since I got out of the Army. In that time I have learned that The American People are assh*les.
I flew Delta and KAL last year on the same trip, both airlines both ways. The difference was large. The KAL staff greets you as you board. If you ask for more snacks (pretty good selection of GOOD snacks) the stew rushes them to you and asks if you need something to drink. The meals are high quality. When you debark the entire crew is lined up to thank you and hope you enjoyed your flight.
It is like that in Korea and, though less formally, in Viet Nam. I suspect it is a characteristic of East Asia and of developing economies in entrepreneurial populations. Japan, though is special because the formality is a basic component of the culture.
tOOOOOOOOOOOO TRUE!
In Paris they pretty much can't be fired and they will not be promoted. Their attitude has no effect on their paycheck.
My, my you are on a hair trigger, aren't you?
Not a bit. But you need a sense of history to understand it.
I never let these same old people get away with this crap without exposing them for it.
I don't suffer fools gladly.
You are right in what you say. "What they really need is to be fired as soon as they act like that..." Unfortunately, you'll end up "settling out of court" with some idiot who has decided to sue you...and found a judge to hear the case.
"Thankfully, they don't represent ALL of their generation, but it's not encouraging..." I think another poster put the blame for this generation on their parents...and that's exactly right, IMO. Kids "act" the way they've been taught, and most young people these days have been taught less than gracious manners and behavior. But hey! they sure know their computers, gameboys, cell phones, etc.
"If you heard the way they talk, particularly the females, you would wince." No kidding!!!
Some companies do care about their customers, but some know they're coming to buy the cheap Chinese stuff --- it's the prices that lure them and they'll come regardless --- service isn't a priority because the customers come anyhow.
(Neil Cavuto aside, because I know he's a good guy),
If customers take service folk for granted and treat them as if they aren't humans as well, then it should only be expected that the service folk eventually behave the same toward customers.
There is high unemployment in this region of the country and it's getting ruder. I just don't believe a company can expect the front line employees to set the tone, hope they can offer the lowest wages possible, do nothing to retain good employees and thing they'll just luck out eventually and get all good ones. Most problems are poor management. You get crappy employees when you don't spend time on interviewing them or paying attention to what they do to your customers. It all comes from the top. It's poor selection, poor training, poor supervision, poor policies or lack of enforcement. You see that when the bottom line is a quick buck.
Every time I go into the Ace Hardware near here, there are several sales people lined up waiting to ask customers as they walk in the store if they need help. Not an occasional clerk --- all of them do this. If you tell them you know what you're looking for or just want to look around, they come by now and then to make sure you still don't want any help. The only thing I can think is that this isn't by accident, that the business is run a certain way because the hardward down the street isn't like that at all. There the clerks stand around and talk and act like they don't know the customers are there.
What's more in this store, the employees that look 18 are just as eager to wait on you as those who look 60 --- it is too across the board to be some kind of accident.
More people should read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People and learn how to act politely.
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