What ever happened to service?

I got my first job when I was in the 11th grade. I had just turned 15. After months of going job hunting (well, more like application collecting), my mother convinced me to stop at the Wendy's restaurant across the street from the local mall. The area was pretty nice and the people had money to spend. I got interviewed and hired on the spot. When I reported to work the next day, I had this image in my mind of being trained to cook french fries since, as everybody knows, if you're the low man (or woman!) on the totem pole, you've gotta start on fries. Well, not so! My manager spent the whole first half of my day, it seems, on teaching good customer service. How to greet the customers, how to handle certain situations, what to say, what not to say-- you get the picture. It was so important, because that particular restaurant used to always win awards for great service, and, after all, it was a good area filled with people who had money to spend and who expected good service. This training was especially good for me because I grew up with a mother who tended to be tactless. I often told her about it and asked her to try to use more tact in dealing with situations. Her response?

So, when I'm on my deathbed and I can't say I love you, remember it's because you had me spending all that extra breath being tactful, alright?

Now, Mama wasn't just a little bit tactless. Oh, no. She took tactless to a whole different level. On one occasion, a person with bad breath came up to speak with her. Instead of grinning and bearing it, as many people would have, Mama held up her hand to stop the guy. She then did the unthinkable. She reached into her purse for a stick of chewing gum. She said, "Baby, before you say anything else to me, chew on this." The obviously embarrassed guy took the gum and chewed it. To his credit (and what could only have been a serious desire to sell his product), he went on giving his spiel. Mama listened, but still didn't buy whatever it was he was selling, if I remember correctly.

Do you see why the customer service training I received at Wendy's was so vital?

Little did I know at the time, but that training on customer care still resonates for me today. I noticed that some customers came to the restaurant several times per week. One older Jaguar-driving man used to come by every day. He would order food on some occasions and only a drink on others. He always paid with a $20 and always told me (or whoever worked the drive- thru register) to keep the change. One day I mustered up the courage to mention the fact that he came every day. His response was that he liked to spend his money where he received good service. That response has stayed with me the twenty or so years that I've been gone from Wendy's.

You see, since I learned how to give good service, I also, by extension, came to recognize it when I saw it. Ultimately, I came to expect good service and was willing to spend my dollars in places where I received it. Even if it meant paying more. I always try to fill out customer comments cards and I frequently ask to speak with the managers of restaurants, especially if I received great service. There is nothing like seeing the manager's face as he tries to read you to see just how unhappy or dissatisfied you might be before approaching you. I love to see the change in features as they hear of the glowing report of an employee's high level of customer care, knowing that they were expecting a berating.

So, if we know that good service breeds repeat customers and, consequently, increased revenue for a business, then what has caused such a disconnect today? I go to places nowadays and am appalled by the lack of customer care I see. Is it the fault of business schools? Are managers not stressing service? Do employees just not care? Is this a societal issue? It's not just restaurants, either. I see a decline in service across the board -- from retail to medical industries. What went wrong in the service department, and how do we fix it?

I guess this is on my mind because I have received the worst service ever from my phone/TV/Internet provider. Hey, I pay them good money every month and expect better. Instead of them coming right out to fix the problem, I received broken appointments, one incompetent repairman, more broken appointments, and another repair person who outright lied and said he came to my home to fix the problem and waited 45 minutes, but we were not home. That was a real deal-breaker for me. It wasn't until I called for the seventh time and expressed to them that I would be finding better service with another company posthaste did they happen to send out a completely competent and thorough repairman. He even gave me the direct phone number and email address to the person I really should be calling to lodge my complaint, instead of calling the 1-800 number I was given over the phone. I'm still seriously considering changing providers, but the last guy gave me OUTSTANDING customer service, which appeased me (a little). It's amazing how far one person's decision to provide stellar customer care goes toward repairing a breach. Why don't companies today understand this?