There are times when I am glad I’m not working in a customer/service field. There are also times when I wish that the people I’m dealing with aren’t. There are some mistakes that may seem obvious but happen over and over again. Here are a few that are highly annoying.
No Show/No Call: We set up an appointment at a relative’s house. Said relative lives a hundred miles away. The person didn’t show up, so we called the company. We were assured the person would be there. Two hours after the window of time was up, we had to go home. The person never showed up.
When we called the company, we were assured we’d get an apology phone call…which would have been appropriate and would probably not have made this into such a big deal. We never got one. Don’t skip appointments and if you have to for some reason, do call and apologize.
Added Costs: If you give me a quote I can understand that you might find more things wrong when you start the job. The proper procedure is to let us know what you found and give us an idea of the expected increase. The improper procedure is to do the job and hand us the bill without explanation for the price increase. This is something that can happen to our elders and something we have to watch for in order to protect them.
Know the Law: Some professions have to work within legal guidelines. Even if you are only a sales person you need to know the law. As an example, someone working in a store that sells supplements cannot make health claims about them without FDA approval.
Be Polite: This may seem to be a no-brainer, but apparently it needs said. I was at a fast food restaurant and the self-serve catsup container was empty. I told an employee politely. What the employee said was fine. The way he said it wasn’t. Tone is as important as words.
Don’t Assume: This has happened more than once. I call it the “lady tax.” If I take a vehicle in to be serviced it is assumed that I don’t know anything about vehicles in general and that vehicle in particular. That’s not true and it can (and has) caused problems for the person who makes the assumption.
Don’t Ignore: This has gotten at least one establishment in hot water. I may not be twenty and cute anymore but that doesn’t mean you should only work with customers that are. Ignoring me not only loses you business it gets me talking to someone higher up the management chain with names and locations.
I know working with the public is hard. I’ve done it. Doing a hard job doesn’t mean that these mistakes are ok. They aren’t.
