Service with a Smile???

I don’t know about you, but I find that professionalism and quality are sorely lacking in businesses including retail, goods and services. If I have to go into one more insurance agency and be forced to deal with yet another 8th grade flunkie with a chip on her shoulder I will lose my mind. If I walk into one more retail outlet and the clerk is chomping her gum while yaking on the phone about last night’s escapades while ignoring me I think I will just go ballistic.

I think that the reason service is so sorely lacking in our society today is because we, as consumers, have grown lax in our expectations. Consumers have become complacent with inferior service and unprofessional behavior. In short, we don’t expect quality service and professionalism so we don’t demand it. When we fail to demand it we certainly don’t get it.

However, one must proceed with care when making a move toward demanding good service. To “put your foot down” and demand that the service you receive improve rarely achieves the desired results. Usually, the reverse occurs. As the old saying goes, you can catch more flies with honey rings true in this situation. Treat the wait staff, sales clerk and bank teller with respect. Give them the benefit of the doubt, but if they fail to meet your expectations regarding service, do not hesitate to file a complaint with the establishment’s management.

I am a very good tipper when I get great service. In a restaurant, as a rule I tip 20% for exceptional service. Now, given some of the restaurants I frequent, this can result in a tidy chunk of change in a server’s pocket! As the service declines, so does the tip. But because I am a generous tipper, I receive very good service the majority of the time.

Don’t limit your tipping to just wait staff at a restaurant. Hairdressers, massage therapists, bell hops, sky hops, housekeeping and other service related vocations should be tipped as well. I tip housekeeping at my hotel from time to time. When the staff helps me carry my packages from shopping up to my room, I tip them.

So, the rules are simple: Generously tip the ones who give great service and when you run across those who are sorely lacking in service, let the management know. I have gone so far as to stop frequenting certain restaurants because of the service. I gave them a couple of chances, then I took my business elsewhere.

Hey, it isn’t perfect, I admit. But at least it is a start.



Thought for the day: Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.