Recently, I went to a restaurant here where I desired to just get a box of egg rolls. I know what you are thinking: “That’s a weird craving.” I know it is kind of weird, but that is all that I had a taste for at that particular time. (Don’t act like I am too strange; I know that we all have been there at least once in our lives.) So, I went in to this place of business, grabbed a box, filled it with about nine egg rolls, and proceeded to head over to the counter to pay for my food and head home. The cashier lifts my box, and I am guessing that he felt its light weight and wanted to see what I had in the box. He opened my box, said something that I could not completely understand, and proceeded to ring up my food. Oddly enough, he never desired to close the box back up and he was not about to put my box in a bag before I called him on it. Before I left, I said something sarcastic to him to reveal my irritation at having my box opened to reveal my food, but it not being closed as I paid for my food.
I spoke to my wife about this little episode later at home and she said to me that if she had been in my position she would have not paid for it. My wife is a beautiful woman, but may be a tad bit less patient than me. She also said that she felt like I should have made a complaint. Sometimes, I make complaints and sometimes I don’t. It depends on my mood at the time. This particular day, I just wanted my egg rolls. Plus, I figured I would just write about it and my distaste for bad customer service.
Customer service, excellent customer service, in our times, looks to be in short supply. This may be because many people do not think about it much nowadays. It seems as if our culture as a whole is filled with the idea that being respectful of other human beings (and going out of your way to be of assistance to them) is too much to ask. It is too time-consuming and being respectful of others depends more on how they treat me and what mood I am in when I am serving them. People appear to smile less and do not show any enthusiasm to participating in “small talk” while they are taking your order, taking your money, or helping you find something that fits.
Now, at the same time, there are some places out there that still believe in training their employees to live and breathe the idea that customers desire to be respected and like a friendly face giving them their French fries. I cannot tell you how many times I have entered an establishment like Chick-fil-A and I do not believe that I can ever recall receiving bad customer service. Even when my aunt-in-law had her order messed up and I almost got into it with another customer, the Chick-fil-A employees remained professional and patient and worked to correct the situation. I can say the same about other businesses, such as Verizon Wireless and USAA (United Services Automobile Association). [Side Note: You can only use USAA if you have been in the military. I am the son of a man who was once in the Army and joined USAA when I was young.] These three well-known businesses have built their brands off of working harder than their competition, but keeping excellent customer service all the way through their beginnings to their rise to the top. Moreover, and possibly more importantly, they did not allow a sacrifice of excellent customer service to take place all for the sake of getting the next dollar without having some kind of moral standard.
It saddens me that going to a restaurant where there is a value placed on customer service does not seem to run high on people’s ‘list’ of reasons to go or not to go to some place to eat. Well, as for me and my wife, rude behavior cannot be tolerated and bad customer service people will not be getting our money. It will not fly, not now nor ever. So, for now, I have decided to just bypass that particular restaurant. I am sure that I will tell others about why they should not let their stomachs lead them to this particular place. Maybe they would lose enough business to see that the customer may not always be right, but they should still be treated with respect. Either way, they will be getting no business from me.
Have you ever felt so strongly about a place that you silently protested against it? This is my protest. Besides, there are other restaurants and, at the end of the day, I would save money and lose weight by eating my wife’s cooking.
I cannot lose with whatever decision that I make with my protest of this eatery.