I'm a great believer in everyone working in retail or hospitality at some stage in their life to understand the pressure that's upon the people serving us. Photo / Freepix
I'm a great believer in everyone working in retail or hospitality at some stage in their life to understand the pressure that's upon the people serving us. Photo / Freepix
OPINION:
Many years ago, I worked for a well-known Australian hardware chain. Almost every day, despite our best attempts at service, we would get customers who would treat us rudely. What these customers did not realise is that, as soon as they left the store, the staff would swapwar stories about them so that next time we would be prepared for the attitude.
During our smoko breaks, we fantasised about giving these entitled humans a "p*** off" card. Once a day, in our dreams, we would meekly hand over this business card, with only the two words printed on it, to our worst customer. In our imagination, eventually this minority of customers would get to understand they were the problem, and they would modify their behaviour and start treating retail staff with respect.
I'm a great believer that everyone at some stage in their working lives (the earlier the better) should work in retail or hospitality. Getting a clear understanding of what goes on in the kitchen, the stockroom or the staff room at a restaurant, hotel or shop makes you understand the pressure that's upon the people serving us.
You see, there is a danger of entitlement we can all feel because we are paying that person's wages. This entitlement can make us feel in some way superior to the person wearing the name badge. But the reality is, we are not superior, we are just at different places on our journey. In that moment, that person is actually our colleague, trying to fix the immediate need we have right now.
The service industry is stressful at the best of times, but at the moment, with so many businesses short-staffed, there is even more pressure piled up on the staff who have shown up that day.
I'm asking you not just to be neutral to the server, but to actively think of ways of encouraging them, because it costs you nothing to be nice to someone. A well-constructed compliment to that stressed staff member may be the only thing that stops them from throwing in the towel and getting a job driving trucks, where they do not have to talk to mean people.
Of course, if you do get bad service, do take constructive steps: email the business with the facts. They do want to know so they can improve - but blowing up at the customer service desk is only going to weaken your point of view.
