Hey you! You want fries with that?! How about a milk shake?

I have heard many of my friends say lately "What has happened to good old customer service" followed by a horrific story at a restaurant or grocery store or clothing store, etc.  Working in the service industry, I feel like I am more hypercritical than I should be when going to any other service based establishment so I definitely can understand where they are coming from when contemplating what has happened to "good old customer service".  The service industry has changed significantly since I even started working my first banking job in 2003.  No one ever seems happy anymore and most positively not happy to see you the customer who is coincidentally the reason they have their service industry job in the first place.  I get so excited when I go to a place where I actually receive above and beyond customer service to the point where I ask them where I can fill out a survey or speak to their boss.  I actually did that to a guy the other day at Dick's Sporting Goods when I was shopping for Max's soccer stuff.  Since Max isn't even 3 yet, he is reasonably small and young compared to the other little soccer players and I had a very hard time finding any items to fit him in the store (granted I only had 4 days notice before he was to play his first game and I waited until the day before) so the first guy I saw walking towards the soccer area I said "Can you please help me?!"  I asked him about the sizes of cleats they had out and shin pads and he told me he would look for me to see if any other shin pads were in the back (I needed XS) if I would go see John in the shoe dept and see if they had any other cleats that would fit him there since there were none his size where the rest of the gear is.  Well he found the shin pads for me but John becomes my super man for the day, not only finding me the smallest size possible in cleats but also cutting the price of the nice Under Armor ones he found in half.  Then since he was giving me the "youth soccer package deal" that comes with the ball and shin pads asked if I had picked those out yet to which I replied "No, but I'm afraid that might be an issue too".  So he walked me over there, got the size 3 soccer ball and then while looking at socks he informs me that might actually be the problem because they don't carry small enough socks for Max.  As I am contemplating what to do I see these socks with built in shin pads and ask him if those are included with the soccer package and he tells me "Well no...but lets just come up here, I think we can make it work."  He then walks me to the cash register and rings me up himself (with the cashier whose drawer it was looking on).  I walked out of there that day as happy as I could be because I had soccer gear for my little boy who was having his very first game the next day and with $80 worth of stuff for $45.  Needless to say I took the survey on the receipt that night. 

Unfortunately, that is not the normal now a days as the service industry has become more driven by greed and sales.  This in turn has caused a more abrasive customer service approach not concentrated on "What can I do for you today?" but "What can you do for me today?"  I remember my first banking job we had continuing education courses (actual sit down classes, not online) that were based on basic communication skills like listening to your customers, effectively communicating with them, and common courtesies.  At the time these classes seemed like a waste of my time and waste of company money because I felt like this was what I thought were common courtesies and this is just how I was brought up to treat people.  So was I wrong?  Or maybe smiling and making eye contact with your patrons were not common everyday courtesies before as I thought they were and now that corporations have cut back on such classes as these no one is learning this anymore?  Now a days most of the classes I have taken are based on "needs based customer sales" which is a great concept when it is actually used as such.  Instead a lot of institutions use these sales based classes in order to push the "flavor of the week".  I actually had a funny experience not too long ago in Walgreens where I was waited on this very slow moving monotoned man in his mid to late 30s in the photo dept.  Well, once I left I realized I forgot to order one of the photos I needed so I had to return except this time he wasn't in the photo department where he worked, he was covering the cashier who went on break.  So he slowly shuffled his feet back to the photo department to meet me where I stood for the second time that day and he said "Can I help you?" in complete monotoned unsmiling fashion and I joked "Yeah, I'm back again.  I forgot to get a print I needed" and gave him my last name again.  He handed it to me then said he would meet me at the register where I got to about 5 full seconds before he did (I'm not an incredibly fast walker).  He scanned my item and totaled it, told me my total, then as I am swiping my card he says again in his wonderful monotoned voice "Oh yeah, I'm supposed to ask you if you want a candy bar, or a magazine I think.  I don't really know, I'm just covering."  I just said "No thanks, I'm good today" with a giggle and barely got through the front door before I just busted out in laughter saying to myself "Did that really just happen?" 

I have now worked for several different institutions, been actively involved with the merging of 3 of them (counting us purchasing another institution) so I feel like I have seen the evolution from small business into corporate business and I have to say personally for me I definitely prefer where I am now with the small hometown bank.  I may get somewhat bored at times (although I'm working on a project now that seems like it will take years to finish) but I love really knowing and building a relationship with all my customers who walk in the door.  I like knowing about their kids and dogs and no good ex husbands and offering them something to drink when they come in (although we both wish it was alcoholic some days).  We have a common saying in those small banks where we know we have the same old stuff every other big bank has but "What sets us apart is our customer service".  And I do get the pleasure of working with a lot of the new faces of the new employees (many of them first time bankers) who come to work with us and have devised a list of proper office etiquette that can be unfortunately not common practices now a days like not eating or chewing gum in front of customers, always end personal phone calls or any other projects not involving customers when a customer walks in, thanking the customer for their business, taking ownership of customer problems, and never making negative comments to customers to name a few. 

The service industry and dealing with people on a daily basis is not for everyone but companies need to better equip their employees of common customer courtesies and proper office etiquette.  I also want to state that I am not overlooking customer over entitlement as a problem sometimes.  But by providing customers with better customer service it seems like it would help weed out the proper entitlement from over entitlement felt by customers.  And furthermore, it seems like you would see an increase in sales with an increase in good customer service in order to pacify the need for development and growth within these companies as I will definitely be spending more money at Dick's Sporting Goods when I have a need to.  So how do we go back to this?

Big shout out to my co-workers on this one.  We feed off of each other's personalities and good customer service skills.  Without you, I would probably be much less pleasant.  You have also seen me at my worst and at my best and you still stick by me.  You are like family and really we have to be since we see each other 1/3 of all the time in a week.