No matter where you work, you should take pride in your job.
Today I had two very different customer service experiences.
I met my mother for lunch today. We decided to go to Wendy's.
I was feeling kind of broke, so I wanted to do the four for four deal.
You can get the double stack if you do that right now so it's a pretty good value.
Source: Pixabay.com
After ordering our food my mother and I found a small booth that was a little bit dirty.
The large gentleman that took our order immediately came over with a rag and a spray bottle.
"I can clean that off for you real quick folks." he smiled, showing a full set of gleaming white teeth.
We sat down at our clean table and began to eat our food.
During our meal this same gentleman came by several times to check on us and make sure that we were enjoying ourselves.
At one point he needed to take the trash out, so he leaned in to tell us how sorry he was to inconvenience us by having to deal with trash while we were eating.
We smiled and asked him if he could possibly make it stop raining outside.
He laughed and said that he would do his best.
He was very into the customer experience. I wished I had a couple of dollars on me at the time because I would have left the guy a tip.
I don't normally tip people that work at fast food restaurants because it's just not something that you do. However, this guy went above and beyond in giving us a customer service experience that we won't soon forget.
He had an excellent attitude.
I left feeling really good about Wendy's and about the world in general. What a nice guy he was.
On the way home I realized I was missing a few sundry items so I stopped in my local dollar store.
I grabbed several small items that I needed. Soap, small towels, laundry detergent, toothpaste, toothbrush, and a handful of other things.
I then grabbed a six pack of Nestle Water. I really like the fact they have Nestle brand water at the dollar store because it's quite a value.
I waited about 5 minutes in the line at the cash register. When I got up to the front the lady taking my items put them all in one bag.
I feel like I had about 10 small items in addition to the six pack of water. She put everything in the same little bag.
"Can I get a separate bag for the water please?"
Without looking at me she picked up the extremely heavy little bag and put it inside another bag so that it was double-bagged.
"No sir, it's double bagged already." she snapped.
No sir? Really?
"Yes well, that's a heck of a lot of items to have in one bag even if it is double bagged." I replied. "Could you please put the water in a separate bag so that it's a little bit easier to carry. Thank you."
She said nothing, and did nothing.
We waited for about 2 minutes while the line piled up.
"It's double bagged." she snapped again, this time with a more forceful tone.
"Okay, could you please put the water in a separate bag so that it's a little bit easier to carry?" I repeated.
Nothing happened for about 2 more minutes before she finally grabbed the water, slammed it into another bag which ripped the bag in half, and then shoved both bags to the side.
After I paid I then went behind the counter and carefully got new bags for all of the items. You might say I was stepping on her toes a little bit by going behind the counter, but she had ripped the other bags.
I couldn't believe how rude she was about the whole affair.
So you have two people working at jobs that probably pay about minimum wage. I would guess that Wendy's is a slight step up from the dollar store.
I can't say for certain though.
What I can say is that I will be glad to go back to the Wendy's I ate at today. The customer service that they provide is excellent. The employee there may not even have been the average employee.
However, he has me believing that their service is excellent.
On the other hand, I am very unlikely to visit this local dollar store again anytime soon. The service there was extremely terrible.
I was made to feel as though I was unwanted. I'm certain that the lady behind the counter was not making much money but that is not my fault.
I don't know if she could find a better job, but I can tell you that if her attitude is as bad as it was today then it's unlikely any place would want to hire her.
I don't want to fault her for whatever issues are going on in her life that I don't know about. What I know for sure is that she gave me terrible service and a bad attitude.
No matter where you work, you should take pride in your job.
Sounds like you could write a book on these 2 specimens. Call it Tale of Two Employees.
First employee you interactive with is definitely not minimum wage material at all. That person seem like someone who has places to go and mountains to climb. That job is nothing but a stepping stone to help fund short term needs to get somewhere in life.
While I hate to say it that second person is a minimum wage worker. Seems like did not want to be there to the point of creating issues out of nothing. Unless they just been reamed over the coals for 5 minutes about wasting an extra 5 cents on over bagging and being written up for it. That was just uncalled for to not simply do something so easy to move the line forward. That job could also just be the best that person can get they just move from one to another just like it. They have more or less given up and just accepted what where they could be hired.
While I think an employee should never go out of their way to make a reasonable customer feel unwelcomed or create a bad experience for them. There are sadly horrible employers out there as well that suck the souls out of people and will rob you of any pride you have in any of the work you do.
Hard to know about that second one for sure. In this world attitude makes such a big difference in life and everything you touch. If you can’t find a way to be happy in it things roll downhill fast and stay down there in the gutters.
I can definitely vibe with that. I wasn't really trying to make a judgement call on her because I'm quite certain that the dollar store has terrible management and all the employees are probably treated quite badly. Additionally, I don't know all of the various bad things that are happening in her life. However, treating people the right way has a tendency to make you feel better. If she's going to stay in her little negative world while she works for someone else, then it is unlikely that she will be able to have that job for very long.
It is a fair point thought. Bad employees can drive down profits, scare away certain customers, and hurt the bottom line. Sadly there are some very toxic places out there where such an employee would be kept because they fit in with the culture and management style of that particular store.
There is one store a couple of towns over most of the locals knew to avoided. The owner on down are very hating of the customer and you wonder why they are even in business in the first place. While they certainly could be getting a lot more business they do get some of the off flow from more tourist heavy traps and thus they don’t care much about the customer. There will always be another that ended up not knowing better.
I agree.
and if it happens to me, the same thing with your opinion I will do. I am glad when reading about the customer service provided. he is very polite. By reading this article alone I feel comfortable especially if I experience what you are experiencing. I would be happy.
let me resteem
Thank you for your comment.
Nice story. Even though both people work min wage jobs, the fact that the Wendy's guy took more pride made a huge difference in the experience. I've had some good experiences at some fast food and surprisingly have tipped if I ate in. Either way... The lady at the dollar store can go fuck herself.
Agreed. I doubt that she would be able to find anyone else to do it.
Wow very interesting & valuable story very nice l like that