Complacency

Interesting conversations all around this weekend. One of the most interesting was about customer service. That term, anymore, is an oxymoron. It used to be that the customer was always right. Then it was the customer is right most of the time. Now, it's the customer is never right and you get what you pay for. Since everything is made in China by children who get a penny a day, it's not worth very much.

I have almost always worked customer service jobs. I worked the box office and concession stand at a movie theater in high school. I worked as a cashier and worked my way up to office manager of a furniture store. I did payroll for a home health care agency. And I worked in billing at a medical equipment store owned by a local hospital. When you start messing with people's money, payroll or what they are paying out, tempers can get a little frayed.

Our conversation started with the lack of motivation in most places of business. Most people don't start out in life thinking they want to be a cashier at a department store for the rest of their lives. I think after a while they become complacent. When that complacency sets in, they pass that on in their attitude. I have been known to use the following: I didn't ask you to take this job. You took this job of your own free will. If you don't like it, get another job. But don't take your bad day out on me. I do try to say that with a little tact and maybe a little feeling. I do try to get across to them that it's their job to make things right.

Service at most places we go is horrible. People don't care about service, and they certainly don't care about the customer. The worst part of it is that we have become complacent about it. That's just the way it is. No it isn't. It's that way because we've let it get that way. We have let the "service" part slide and have not challenged how we are treated. We just roll along and say OK. Stores like WalMart have taken advantage of that. And once again, we have let them. If you ask their employees where anything is, they have no clue. And they don't care to find out. They aren't making enough to care. Hubby used to work there, so I know of where I speak.

There are some bright spots in the customer service game. Chik-Fil-A is one of those places. Their employees are trained to say "My pleasure". It's not so much that they say it, but how they say it, with a smile and like they really mean it. It is refreshing to go somewhere to spend money and enjoy dropping the cash. It's refreshing to be treated like you matter. It's refreshing to feel important.

We have all become complacent about how we are treated. Here's a hint: stop patronizing the places that don't treat you right. Ask to speak to the manager. Write a letter to the corporate office. Do something, but don't get stepped on anymore. We need to not be complacent about being treated with respect and dignity. Complacency has gotten us car companies we don't really own, banks that fail, a president that hates our country and what it stands for, and representatives that don't represent us. Pretty soon there won't be a customer service department at all. Then what will we have to be complacent about?