25 things vanishing in America, part 2: Customer service

[\S/JcDc\S/]

I got excellent service at a pizza hut, I thought of this thread randomly and left a $10 tip. I started thinking "Ya know, if this were a nicer restaurant. Even just a Red Lobster, Macaroni Grill, etc... I would leave an extra nice tip if the service warrants it. Just cause it is a run of the mill Pizza Hut, why ignore someone good at their job?"

I feel strangely good about myself for doing this.

 

[Tyrinus]

My company has gotten lucky, a state law changed which actually helps enforce a specific policy we have....we had actually planned on changing it later this year, but the new law moved those plans up. So when someone complains, I tell them "According to Connecticut state law, this is the policy"

And that policy would be?

Another thing that gets me is when people practically demand a discount then you refuse and they say something like "alright I'll pay that amount, but you're not charging me tax, right?"

WTF?

My standard response to that(and yes it happens with enough frequency I had to come up with a standard response) is, "if you have a problem paying sales tax you take it up with the state, not with me."

 

[BlackLantern]

And that policy would be?

Another thing that gets me is when people practically demand a discount then you refuse and they say something like "alright I'll pay that amount, but you're not charging me tax, right?"

WTF?

My standard response to that(and yes it happens with enough frequency I had to come up with a standard response) is, "if you have a problem paying sales tax you take it up with the state, not with me."

It has to do with our billing of clients.....we're merchant support and we have small websites and such that hire us to do retention marketing.....essentially, if they aren't satisfied and want to be refunded they have to show some sort of proof that we didn't hold up our end of the agreement...that's as short an explanation as I can make it

 

[Tyrinus]

makes sense

 

[Hobgoblin]

I got excellent service at a pizza hut, I thought of this thread randomly and left a $10 tip. I started thinking "Ya know, if this were a nicer restaurant. Even just a Red Lobster, Macaroni Grill, etc... I would leave an extra nice tip if the service warrants it. Just cause it is a run of the mill Pizza Hut, why ignore someone good at their job?"

I feel strangely good about myself for doing this.

You, Sir, are awesome. Its not just that you left the money, you recognised that the kid behind the counter was working his butt off at a crappy job. On his behalf, I thank you.

 

[Darthphere]

Going back to Best Buy and it's supposed great customer service. My dad and I were there just looking at stuff for about 45 minutes. Not one employee came up to us and asked if we needed help (which we did at one point and we couldn't find anyone).

 

[BeserkerHilf]

I was at the bank yesterday and some guy that didn't have an account with us wanted to cash his $3150 check drawn on our bank.

a.) We don't cash an on-us check over $2500 at the manager's discretion.
b.) We don't cash an on-us check over $1000 if the person does not have an account with us.
c.) If the check is over $500, we have to call the customer to verify he/she wrote that check, which under manager's discretion, can negate the above.

It's a tough practice, but that's the reason the bank has survived over 150 years and had not been affected by the current situation with the banks. Those are the rules and in order to earn some living money, I'm not going to break that for you.

So this jerk off comes in, who proves to me that he has an account at another bank and can simply deposit the check there, and gives me a hard time for a good ten minutes because I won't cash his on-us check. He carries on and on despite the fact that I can't get in touch with the account owners. So he proceeds to bark orders up the chain of command and my manager succumbs after speaking with the owner.

******* counts his cash, then bipolarly apologizes to my manager. "I'm sorry for being so rude. I really am."

Well...****. YOU.

If you were really sorry, you would've known not to act like an ******* in the first place. And where do you get off telling me, who's been working in a bank for two years, how to do my job? Do I tell you how to paint a house or put on a roof?

The most demoralizing thing is I don't even feel like a human being. The bastard never once turned to me, the kid half his age who's just following the rules, and said sorry to my face.

 

[michephantom]

Last night I went out dancing, and on the way back I stopped at a Steak and Shake to get a shake. Never mind that it took 5 minutes to make a simple shake (maybe the guy was a trainee), it tasted LIKE steak and shake. I don't know how exactly, but kinda like ketchup, hamburgers, and ciggaretes all in one (and smoking in restaurents is illegal). So when we got to my hometown, I went to the local steak and shake and complained, and they gave me a new one that wasn't icky. They didn't have to, because the other one was owned by a different person, but they did, an apologized on behalf of the other one, which was nice.

 

[Silk Spectre]

I've been in the customer service industry 10 years now, the big changes started happening abut 5-6 years ago. Stores started cutting way back on the amount of help. Kroger and Safeway both used a computerized scheduling system that leaves staffing at a bare bones level. Stores now pay less than ever before and few people have benefits.

The companies have become more concerned with their own quotas and programs than actual service. When I worked for Safeway we were always required to ask customers to donate to some cause or another. If we didn't get enough people to donate they would cut our hours.

The place I work now makes a big deal about the cashier getting the customer rung up as fast as possible. There is a minimum speed/time you have to meet or face demotion.

The biggest change I've seen in customers is cell phones. They don't say hello to us either, don't us their loyalty card, and are so half arsed paying attention they mess up running the debit card though the scanner.

I have a lot of great customers, but there are also those who have entitlement issues and expect us to bend over backwards and wipe their butts.

 

[BeserkerHilf]

Last night I went out dancing, and on the way back I stopped at a Steak and Shake to get a shake. Never mind that it took 5 minutes to make a simple shake (maybe the guy was a trainee), it tasted LIKE steak and shake. I don't know how exactly, but kinda like ketchup, hamburgers, and ciggaretes all in one (and smoking in restaurents is illegal). So when we got to my hometown, I went to the local steak and shake and complained, and they gave me a new one that wasn't icky. They didn't have to, because the other one was owned by a different person, but they did, an apologized on behalf of the other one, which was nice.

Yea, you are the worst type of customer. You're the type of person that claims that another location conveniently bends the rules to your liking and, instead of going back to that branch, you waste everyone's time trying to coax us into breaking company policy. It's not the same circumstance as yours, but it is.

You should have called corporate and complained about that location, had them reprimanded, and in most cases received a voucher for your troubles. What you should've have realized is that your free milkshake just came out of the budget of a location that did nothing wrong.

 

[thewhyteman]

Last night I went out dancing, and on the way back I stopped at a Steak and Shake to get a shake. Never mind that it took 5 minutes to make a simple shake (maybe the guy was a trainee), it tasted LIKE steak and shake. I don't know how exactly, but kinda like ketchup, hamburgers, and ciggaretes all in one (and smoking in restaurents is illegal). So when we got to my hometown, I went to the local steak and shake and complained, and they gave me a new one that wasn't icky. They didn't have to, because the other one was owned by a different person, but they did, an apologized on behalf of the other one, which was nice.

Wow.

You went out dancing and you cant figure out why your food tastes like cigarettes. It couldn't be because your throat was the equivalent to a chimney from all the smoke in the club. [SARCASIM]And I am sure you were not drinking. [/SARCASIM] My guess it was late since you went to steak and shake. And you probably never gave thought that some person having a hard time in life is making you a shake in the middle of the night. But since it didnt taste like 5 star dining to you,... you deserve something right?

Your statement is selfish and wrong. A customer such as your self makes the world that much more crappy. Whats just as bad is that the Restaurant supported your self centered, instant gratification behavior.
And on behalf of people that are in the service industry, ..uncool, very very uncool.

 

[SoulManX]

Wow.Just.Wow.
I Work in customer service too people in the science field can be *******s it seems

 

[The Guard]

My favorite...

I used to work at a grocery store. We had this one guy who would come in every other day, purchase a pie from the bakery, eat about 90 percent of the pie, then bring it back, say it tasted funny and that he was feeling ill. He would then...you guessed it. Purchase another pie with the refund he'd been given, eat about 90 percent of the pie...

 

[michephantom]

Yea, you are the worst type of customer. You're the type of person that claims that another location conveniently bends the rules to your liking and, instead of going back to that branch, you waste everyone's time trying to coax us into breaking company policy. It's not the same circumstance as yours, but it is.

You should have called corporate and complained about that location, had them reprimanded, and in most cases received a voucher for your troubles. What you should've have realized is that your free milkshake just came out of the budget of a location that did nothing wrong.

It wasn't my idea, but of course you're right, I should have complained to the resteraunt so they could have fixed the machine or whatever and raised they're quality. But I was tired. In the end, it was the manager's decision whether or not to give me another milkshake. I wasn't rude to him, just explained my situation, and he decided to be nice. Because of what he did, I probably will go to this steak n shake more often because the management and staff were nice. So, it worked out for both of us.

Wow.

You went out dancing and you cant figure out why your food tastes like cigarettes. It couldn't be because your throat was the equivalent to a chimney from all the smoke in the club. [SARCASIM]And I am sure you were not drinking. [/SARCASIM] My guess it was late since you went to steak and shake. And you probably never gave thought that some person having a hard time in life is making you a shake in the middle of the night. But since it didnt taste like 5 star dining to you,... you deserve something right?

Did you have a bad day when you replied to me? I bet you did, and I'm sorry about that [NOT SARCASM]. But actually, the club was smoke free, since it was in Illinois, and I didn't actually drink anything (except some overpriced water). And even if the person was having a rough night, that is no excuse to serve food that is bad quality/ spoiled.

 

[DorneyDave]

In my experience in customer service, (I work at a business dealing with every customer who comes in that day) it's mainly what you give is what you get. If your nice, understanding and try to be helpful that's what you'll get back. I rarely get the nightmare customer who sucks right off the bat, and on those occasions I'm still nice as can be. Worst that can happen is that a manager gets involved and then it's out of my hands.

Either way, I don't lose sleep over customers. Just another part of the job. *shrugs*