When tourists visit the Caribbean one of the qualities that they are especially amazed about in us is our friendliness. This has been instilled in us from an early age. Our parents always tell us to say good morning, thank you; you are welcome and so on. This makes us distinct from the rest of the world.
However is this another feature of our culture that is dying? I was especially irritated to have been the recipient of bad customer service from one our local cashiers. Firstly, I did not receive the customary greeting from said cashier; after all I was conducting business with the company.
Secondly, I think it is totally unacceptable for someone who works in customer service to be chewing gum while on the job. This is another one of the crimes that the cashier committed. Finally, I like to think of myself as a patient person but when someone is taking over ten minutes to locate the code of an item that I am interested in purchasing; I think it is acceptable for me to get just a tad bit impatient.
This is not the worst part; if I did not inquire as to why the item was not going through, I would not have been informed that the code was missing. Naturally, I left the item for them to sort out the coding problem. I mean if I had been in receipt of better customer service, then I would have waited on the item. But, I was not going to be inconvenienced where my money was not wanted knowing that their competitors would gladly accept my service.
Therefore, while bad manners reflects poorly on the individual person; it also reflects poorly on the company that the person is representing. And this will in effect cause the company to lose profit. The days of monopoly are long gone thus the customers have more choices now.
Therefore, people who work in customer service must be aware of the fact that a simple “good morning” and “thank you” can be the difference between “employment” and “unemployment”. We must not only practice good manners in business but also in our ordinary lives, because it does make a difference.
