We can quickly recall when a service worker has been rude to us. And what do we say? “Nobody told you to take this job. If you’re that unhappy, then you need to quit.” But on the flip side, do we think about how WE treat the people who handle our food or other goods/services?
Whether it’s the flight attendant who took care of me during my trip or the waiter who took care of me during my meal, I try to be a courteous as possible to the people providing me service.
However, Meghan Cox Gurdon {@MeghanGurdon}, columnist for The Washington Examiner, wrote an article last week explaining that people who work behind counters are hard-pressed to get a “please” or “thank you” from the customers they serve.
Her son tells her that as he works the counter of a neighborhood poolside snack bar, he gets the feeling that customers think he’s “an idiot, or a robot.”
“The worst ones come up to the window and don’t even look at me,” he says. “They just throw down a dollar or something and say ‘Coke.’”
What’s happened in our society that causes us to demand exceptional service without treating the people providing our service with common courtesy? Well, a few things:
The phrase “The customer is always right,” has been blown way out of proportion. I know that catering to the customer is paramount but customers can do some crazy and petty things expecting others to bend over backwards in the name of service. An older, ornery gentlemen—who was already upset and grumbling behind me—blew up at a grocery store employee because I needed an ID check for the wine I was purchasing at self-check-out. “Can you get over here and check her ID so she can buy her wine and I can get out of here?” he barked. “This place sucks! You need more cashiers.” Was this outburst really necessary? The cashier ended up moving my items to another machine and ringing me up herself.
The customer thinks that because she’s paying, she has all the control. I’ll admit that I’m a bit picky about my food. If I notice a mistake with my order or if I send food back to the kitchen at the restaurant, I try to be nice as possible about it. After all, I trust someone else to prepare food that I’ll be eating. If I piss them off, then who knows what will happen to my meal in that kitchen.
The value of a service is mistakenly transferred to the person providing it. Lots of us place little value on the acts of preparing fast food or ringing up clothing or other belongings. The rate of pay we know they receive reinforces this view. However, we make the mistake of thinking that just because these jobs seem simple, the people who perform them aren’t worthy of respect. That’s just not true.
We think less of jobs that we feel don’t require a degree or special skills. Again, society and pay rates have reinforced the idea that retail and other service jobs don’t require as much respect as other professions simply because no one needs higher education to perform them.
Regardless of what we think about people working in retail or any other service profession, they deserve to be treated with the Golden Rule in mind: do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Have you ever witnessed someone being rude or nasty to a service worker? How did this make you feel? How did you react? Have you ever felt the wrath of a disgruntled customer?
Thanks Angie – Good points