Are you being served?

I've worked in retail - and never ever again - its low paid and customers are very rude - i've come to the realization now that if you pay minimum wage while reaping million dollar profits you will get minimum effort - retail work is draining and often NOT rewarding with minimum pay rates yet you are expected to give 101% for little pay and put up with rude customers and sometimes bosses and working conditions are rushed - its burn out material - being nice is a two way street people are NOT robots

take time out this Christmas to thank the people working in retail all will be on low wages and having to put up with rude customers - its a two way thing - being nice all day can be draining in this situation - so get real be nice to those 'serving' you and making the company rich - without the 'customer service rep - no business would make a cent

Retailers, bars, restaurants and the like, need to take a look at how Japan's customer services operate. In a word, Brilliant! Here in this country of Hondas, gadgets of every kind and rice, The Japanese service industry still believe the customer is always right. You can be the most obnoxious, supercilious, priggish and impertinent non-ape on the planet and the Japanese sale person will treat you as almost a god. The slow-to-understand grandmother may ask her slow to understand questions, the sales person will explain in clear concise language. Never will you see a shop assistant, a waiter/waitress or any other service industry member, without a smile. If it is lunch time that you venture into the store, you'll be greeted as a returning King. No one will say, "Sorry, lunch hour" I tend to think New Zealand has changed a great deal as far as the attitudes of sales people. In the 1970's, when I lived there, it was much, much worse. However, when I visited my family in 2007, I found people I met, to be very friendly and helpful. It was a very positive change. There are a couple of old adages, which I feel would be quite apt for this article and they are; "It costs you nothing to be nice." and the another, which springs to mind; "It's nice to be important, but important to be nice." Have a nice day.

As someone who has worked in various customer service jobs for years, I would like to add the comment, while not disagreeing with the writer's viewpoint, that the flip side of the coin is that few customers seem to feel it necessary to use courtesy when interacting with customer service representatives. Condescending, abrupt and (sadly often these days) even abusive behaviour from customers has become a daily norm in my line of work. When I am working with polite, friendly customers my job can be a joy - and I hope eveyone comes away not only with the answers they wanted, but also happy and satified with the service they received. When I am forced to grin and bear the ill tempers of people who don't seem to think customer service representatives shold be accorded any respect or cordiality my job is, quite simply, hell.

whats the bet that the two of you don't work in customer service?

I totally agree that it all boils down to attitude. Front line staff members need to be passionate about what they are doing. Appropriate customer service training helps but staff concerned need to also have good product knowledge to serve customers effectively.

What do you expect? Today's Customer Service Managers are not trained properly. They are brainwashed into believing that "It's the shareholders that come first" and that the almighty dollar rules!. The customer comes a distant second!