Stop asking, “May I help you?” Clearly, you don’t mean it.
So there’s this thing called “customer service.” Or at least, there used to be. I’m not sure what happened, but a lot businesses don’t seem to care about it anymore.
Oh sure, there was that period in 2007 and early 2008 when companies were boasting that they had the best customer service in town. It was the cool thing to do. Even better, consumers were actually aware that how they were treated mattered. They were demanding great customer service like it was their God-given right and sites like Consumerist were (and still are) all over it when folks were denied that right.
BUT then the economy started tanking and hoards of businesses – from the banks and credit companies, to big box retailers and the local shops – started caring so much about covering their own tails that they declared in one passive-aggressive voice, “screw the consumer.”
Sadly, consumers share in their poor economy-induced stress, so most will suck it up and accept the horrendous service, demeaning snail mail letters or botched loans as par for the current economy’s course.
(sigh)
Look, we are all frazzled by the economy. That doesn’t give you a license to act like a jerk to potential or current customers.
I won’t rant on and on, I just wanted to state on the record that the universal disregard for quality customer service makes me angry. I’m sick of people asking, “may I help you?” when clearly they don’t mean it.
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I totally agree with you here, although I think we are all at fault… in my mind I feel like the decline of customer service started with the WWW . Consumers constantly looking for the cheapest price ( and usually low quality products/knock offs) brought in from over seas via the web , cut down on profits for local stores which reduced wages here and now we are left with people who are paid little for those jobs and take no pride in what they do b.c it doesnt benefit them in any way.
East Nash is bring back the small businesses and they are full of great customer service with educated employees.. hopefully the country will take note and follow suit. ha
Good point. It’s hard to focus on serving the customer when you’ve got no pride or excitment in your work. I’m fortunate to have a gig that I really, really love. I sometimes forget that’s not the case for the vast majority of folks.
Thank you for commenting! Oh, and War Eagle
I can certainly relate. With this kind of attitude, businesses certainly have no right to expect things to get much better anytime soon.
Personally, I noticed customer service started to decline when the internet came along. Ordering online reduces the necessity of face to face contact and you have to deal with that annoying message system.
I prefer to order from locally owned stores that are focused on the real deal than the hype.