Customer Service and the Definitions Thereof
After my last couple of posts, I've been thinking and talking to my co-workers a little. I find myself in a strangely meta state of mind.
OK, I am coming at this from an odd angle, I admit. I've worked customer service in any number of thankless jobs. There's really no getting away from it. I don't think there's any position where you don't have customers.
Working the telephones for inbound customer service is about the most tedious grind I can imagine. Envision having to sit there and be polite while someone literally jerks off into the phone because you're a Telephone Operator for the cell phone company and by extension not a REAL person with dignity who deserves respect or anything like that. I've been that faceless person on the phone with no last name they want to give you who's both under-trained and powerless, whose main function is to be a warm body for you to vent your upset on so you'll be in a better mood when you're transferred to someone who might (but probably won't) be able to help you with your problem.
I have been That Usless Girl On The Phone. So I do understand the sentiment that evolves out of that kind of situation, where the "Customer" becomes the "Enemy" that you have to battle day-in and day-out for $10 an hour and some modest health coverage if you're lucky. If you're not lucky, then you're sitting in New Hire Orientation where some middle management jerkward is explaining that their company believes in paying a good wage, which is why they're going to pay you a whole fifty cents over minimum wage. In that world it seems the customer is never happy and is never going to be happy no matter how hard you try. If you manage to help one customer, then the next one will be just that much worse.
So I can see where being a stewardess is a crap job. I mean, it's even worse than being a waitress. You're still serving drinks only you're stuck in a stupid navy suit with a regulation polyester scarf and can't accept tips. If some old guy paws you while you're on the job you can't throw him off, but rather have to walk past him every time you need to go to the other end of the plane. Plus, they hire only spindly little things that won't take up too much space in the aisle. So, OK United Stewardesses, I get that your job ain't all roses. I will grant you that.
Still, I think it's time for a reality check.
Here are some various definitions for Customer Service:
"Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase."
-Wikipedia entry on 'Customer Service'
"Taking care of your customers, their needs and desires in a professional and courteous manner."
-Direct Sales Beginner’s Dictionary
"Wide variety of activities intended to ensure that customers receive the goods and services they require to satisfy their needs or wants in the most effective and efficient manner possible."
-'Customer Service' entry on Marketing Definitions Center
It's not a complex notion. Customer Service is serving the customer. It is the reason why stewardesses and telephone operators are hired. If the customer didn't need service then a lot of us would be out of jobs. Customer service is the reason a lot of us get out of bed in the morning and go to work. Serving the customer is what pays our bills.
So when do we lose sight of that? When do we forget our entire reason for being at work? It's probably easy to say 'Well, I do OTHER things too. I fill out paperwork (generated by serving customers) and plan the schedule for my coworkers (so they can serve customers) and only after that do I serve the customers."
Looking at this from a purely practical view, the customers are where it's at. Can anyone afford to alienate a potential source of income in this economy?
It is a company's right to say who they will and will not do business with WITHIN REASON. 'Doing business with you requires extra effort on my part' is not within reason, especially after that company has accepted money in exchange for an agreed-upon service. If providing that service to a particular person requires extra effort and expense, then it is the duty of the one providing service to make that clear in advance. Whining about it afterward is both ineffectual and insulting.
The phrase "You may feel free to take your business elsewhere." is only an acceptable statement under certain circumstances and any authority on customer relations will tell you loud and clear that you should do your damnedest to keep from having to say it. That phrase should only come after a good-faith effort to repair a damaged relationship. It should not be the first thing that comes out of your mouth.
So when does simple human compassion and care for the people you were hired for have to be written into a contract? When does someone have to say 'this is part of the absolute minimum that you must do in order for us to justify paying you to provide service on our behalf'?
I get that in reality the customer is not always right and in fact, rarely is. Often the customer can be petty, mean, and demanding of things they have no right to. People can be duplicitous and lazy. If it looks like someone could get away with something, someone will inevitably try. Yes. I get that.
What I am trying to say is that people in the customer service industry need to just stop once a day, look around, and ask why.
"Why am I here? Why am I doing this?"
I am not talking 'why was I born'. I mean, "Why did someone hire me to be here, doing this. What is it that is so vital that they're willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to have one more person doing it? What is so important?"
The customers. The people who need to be going places and can't always get there by themselves, who need cellphones and really don't understand how to read their bill (cause, let's face it, even you have trouble with those things and you've got the benefit of a two week training course and they don't), who are willing to give up some of the money they earned serving other people (perhaps even you!) to pay for that help.
So all of you out there who make your living serving customers, when next you feel like you're just working until your lunch break so you can revive yourself with Fail!Blog and The Customer Isn't Always Right, just stop for a second and have a reality check. No one's denying you your right to be tired on the job, but just remember for a second why your job exists. It'll make it easier to keep that grin in place, even if you don't always mean it. No one's asking for perfect, but we are asking for help.
EDIT 4/15/2010: Ugh... why do you guys let me get away with all this navel-gazing? Thank you for putting up with me!
OK, I am coming at this from an odd angle, I admit. I've worked customer service in any number of thankless jobs. There's really no getting away from it. I don't think there's any position where you don't have customers.
Working the telephones for inbound customer service is about the most tedious grind I can imagine. Envision having to sit there and be polite while someone literally jerks off into the phone because you're a Telephone Operator for the cell phone company and by extension not a REAL person with dignity who deserves respect or anything like that. I've been that faceless person on the phone with no last name they want to give you who's both under-trained and powerless, whose main function is to be a warm body for you to vent your upset on so you'll be in a better mood when you're transferred to someone who might (but probably won't) be able to help you with your problem.
I have been That Usless Girl On The Phone. So I do understand the sentiment that evolves out of that kind of situation, where the "Customer" becomes the "Enemy" that you have to battle day-in and day-out for $10 an hour and some modest health coverage if you're lucky. If you're not lucky, then you're sitting in New Hire Orientation where some middle management jerkward is explaining that their company believes in paying a good wage, which is why they're going to pay you a whole fifty cents over minimum wage. In that world it seems the customer is never happy and is never going to be happy no matter how hard you try. If you manage to help one customer, then the next one will be just that much worse.
So I can see where being a stewardess is a crap job. I mean, it's even worse than being a waitress. You're still serving drinks only you're stuck in a stupid navy suit with a regulation polyester scarf and can't accept tips. If some old guy paws you while you're on the job you can't throw him off, but rather have to walk past him every time you need to go to the other end of the plane. Plus, they hire only spindly little things that won't take up too much space in the aisle. So, OK United Stewardesses, I get that your job ain't all roses. I will grant you that.
Still, I think it's time for a reality check.
Here are some various definitions for Customer Service:
"Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase."
-Wikipedia entry on 'Customer Service'
"Taking care of your customers, their needs and desires in a professional and courteous manner."
-Direct Sales Beginner’s Dictionary
"Wide variety of activities intended to ensure that customers receive the goods and services they require to satisfy their needs or wants in the most effective and efficient manner possible."
-'Customer Service' entry on Marketing Definitions Center
It's not a complex notion. Customer Service is serving the customer. It is the reason why stewardesses and telephone operators are hired. If the customer didn't need service then a lot of us would be out of jobs. Customer service is the reason a lot of us get out of bed in the morning and go to work. Serving the customer is what pays our bills.
So when do we lose sight of that? When do we forget our entire reason for being at work? It's probably easy to say 'Well, I do OTHER things too. I fill out paperwork (generated by serving customers) and plan the schedule for my coworkers (so they can serve customers) and only after that do I serve the customers."
Looking at this from a purely practical view, the customers are where it's at. Can anyone afford to alienate a potential source of income in this economy?
It is a company's right to say who they will and will not do business with WITHIN REASON. 'Doing business with you requires extra effort on my part' is not within reason, especially after that company has accepted money in exchange for an agreed-upon service. If providing that service to a particular person requires extra effort and expense, then it is the duty of the one providing service to make that clear in advance. Whining about it afterward is both ineffectual and insulting.
The phrase "You may feel free to take your business elsewhere." is only an acceptable statement under certain circumstances and any authority on customer relations will tell you loud and clear that you should do your damnedest to keep from having to say it. That phrase should only come after a good-faith effort to repair a damaged relationship. It should not be the first thing that comes out of your mouth.
So when does simple human compassion and care for the people you were hired for have to be written into a contract? When does someone have to say 'this is part of the absolute minimum that you must do in order for us to justify paying you to provide service on our behalf'?
I get that in reality the customer is not always right and in fact, rarely is. Often the customer can be petty, mean, and demanding of things they have no right to. People can be duplicitous and lazy. If it looks like someone could get away with something, someone will inevitably try. Yes. I get that.
What I am trying to say is that people in the customer service industry need to just stop once a day, look around, and ask why.
"Why am I here? Why am I doing this?"
I am not talking 'why was I born'. I mean, "Why did someone hire me to be here, doing this. What is it that is so vital that they're willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to have one more person doing it? What is so important?"
The customers. The people who need to be going places and can't always get there by themselves, who need cellphones and really don't understand how to read their bill (cause, let's face it, even you have trouble with those things and you've got the benefit of a two week training course and they don't), who are willing to give up some of the money they earned serving other people (perhaps even you!) to pay for that help.
So all of you out there who make your living serving customers, when next you feel like you're just working until your lunch break so you can revive yourself with Fail!Blog and The Customer Isn't Always Right, just stop for a second and have a reality check. No one's denying you your right to be tired on the job, but just remember for a second why your job exists. It'll make it easier to keep that grin in place, even if you don't always mean it. No one's asking for perfect, but we are asking for help.
EDIT 4/15/2010: Ugh... why do you guys let me get away with all this navel-gazing? Thank you for putting up with me!