So in my many adventures in the wacky world of retail, I’ve discovered (didn’t take me long) that people are, on average, pretty ignorant of the those around them. I’m going to take a guess that it’s not out of malice that I get treated like a vending machine for 6 hours at a time, but that people simply just don’t care. I conducted a tiny experiment this last week while I was serving up Starbucks, and when asking for a customer’s order, I looked directly into their eyes and greeted them with a “hello!” or what have you. It was amazing to see the varying expressions I received. Like I said, on average people are jerks, so on occasion, I did recieve a mirrored smile and stare and we’d share a moment. But more often than not, my greeting was mumbled in return or simply ignored and the menu above me was the chosen visual target.
Now, I’m not saying that I want people to stare at me and tell me their hopes and dreams, when I know damn well all they want is a latte and to get the hell out of the store. But it would be nice to somehow know that this person knows customer service people are making an effort to give them a personable experience, that we are in fact people. That we go home at night and after hours of talking to people like brick walls, it drives us a little insane, and yet, we do it with a smile on our faces day in and day out.
I also have noticed a superiority complex that exists among some individuals who seem to get their jollies from pushing around us surfs who are obligated to treat them nicely as they “are always right”. Not cool people, not cool.
To wrap up my whining, I don’t know about anyone else’s mothers, but I was always taught to say “hello”, “please” and “thank you” no matter what the situation or how much better you may think you are.
Jeesh.
Enough complaining for now.
Lindsay
You don’t have to work in a shop to have that experience. Some days I carry out a similar experiment while walking along the street, and I mean the street where I live – and only a minority of people even look at me. I must add that people that I actually do know (as in know their names) look, but most people cannot make eye contact with a stranger. Sad.
I wrote a paper on this last semester. We had to take two unrelated topics and combine them together; mine was Customer Service/Slavery.
Introduction
As children, our parents teach us the Golden Rule; to treat people how we would like to be treated. We have this concept ingrained in our minds from the youngest of ages because, as Horton the elephant says, “A person’s a person, no matter how small” (Dr. Seuss, 1954). And the Golden Rule is what we need to practice if we are going to treat people like people.
Often customers believe that this rule does not apply to people in customer service positions. I was very confused when I started working at Cellular One (Dobson Communications) in the Financial Services Department Call Center by how very little respect some people give to customer service representatives. If “a person’s a person, no matter how small”, were they just forgetting that they were talking to a person?
Sorry to hear that. I appreciate a freindly smile and a greeting from a barista/waiter/etc. very much, and always return the gesture.
And re: Brittany, if we export anything to underprivileged countries that have low literacy around the world, it should be EVERY SINGLE Dr. Seuss book ever written. I think it would really make the world a much better place.