Proper Customer Service Etiquette Seems Hard to Find

Everyone knows that when you have a job working with the general public, you have to have a certain type of personality. Usually hiring managers are looking for people who are friendly and appear to have a great personality. After all, the better their employees behavior, the better off the company will be. They're also looking for people who they feel can maintain pleasant mannerisms at all times, rather they're handling customer calls over the phone or face to face with consumers. However, it's not a surprise that many employers hire the wrong candidates. When this happens, the consumers suffer.

No matter if it's a retail store, bank or restaurant, chances are during training workers are instructed on not only the aspects of their job, but also how one should greet each customer. Most stores want their employees greeting their customers with a smile, as well as a simple hello. With all the interviews and training, you'd think only the most polite and friendly people imaginable were hired. We all know that this notion just isn't true.

How many times have you been at a store shopping for something important or at a restaurant planning to enjoy a nice meal, only to be greeted with total rudeness from workers? It's something that should never happen and it happens too often. We've all either experienced this improper behavior or seen it happen to someone else. Poor customer service cases are always being reported; most complaints come from people who experienced hard times from checkout clerks in retail stores, bank tellers, customer call centers, and fast food places. Even drive-thru employees have been known to hang their heads out of the window to scream at the car to "pull up!" This is both ignorant and potentially dangerous. Drivers know to pull around once they've placed an order to get their food; if they don't pull around as fast as others would, perhaps it's an elderly person or someone having car trouble. You never know who you're yelling at and that customer may not be so nice either when they reach the window where someone just screamed at them.

Picture this scenario, a man walks into a retail store and asks a young man wearing the store's uniform where a particular item can be found. The young man replies, "I'm on break" and keeps walking. This may seem farfetched, but sadly it does happen. That's equivalent to telling the customer "Look, I'm busy right now, so if you want something go find it yourself." The proper way to greet any customer is, "Hi, how are you doing today?" Or "Hi, how may I help you?" Even if the employee can't help you directly, their job is to get someone who can and tell you that in a polite manner. It's hard enough to make ends meet these days, the last thing you'd like is to be dealt with in a rude manner while you're spending your money in their establishment. It really makes you wonder how some people ever get hired.

Sources

Michael Streich
workplaceculture.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_end_poor_customer_service_in_retail_sales
How to End Poor Customer Service in Retail Sales