I've been working at Starbucks for 5 months now. This is my last week since I am moving to camp, but with that, I have some thoughts from a customer service worker point of view.
We are told that the customer is always right. We have to do as much as we can to make the customer completely satisfied. That means, the ruder you are, the more you get. The more you bitch about your coffee (or whatever the situation might be), the more likely you are to get free stuff.
Is it so important that we keep this one piece of crap costumer that we make the policy of 'the costumer is always right'? This teaches people that whining and being rude will get you everything you want.
When making rules and guidelines for how employees are to act (or any other type of rules) you can't leave grey. You can't say, 'do whatever you reasonably can do to help a customer who is giving you the opportunity.' There's too much wiggle room. Any jackass who doesn't want to work can claim the customer was being rude or asking too much. So we say the customer is always right. Always.
So here's my answer, what I think we need more of. Gratitude. As a customer service worker, I want to make sure you get what you need, I want to do whatever I can to make you smile. But I need some recognition. Be thankful and aware of what I'm doing. If I make something wrong or someone wants a little something special, I am 100% more happy to do it if that person acknowledges my effort.
The moral of the story is be observant of how people are serving you and be grateful for that.
WORD! So much Word!
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