For a couple of years now I have been in the practice of driving my wife to work each morning.  Occasionally she will ask for me to stop at the McDonald’s near her office to pick up breakfast for her, and that is what she asked of me this morning.
I sat patiently (which is not an easy thing for me to do) for my turn at the speaker to place my order.  As I pulled up to the speaker a voice came on and ask to take my order. So I gave my order: a large black coffee and a bagel with bacon.  There was no reply, but I could hear muffled voices coming from the speaker.  Another voice comes on and says, “Can I take your order?” I am a little frustrated, but I repeat the order.  While I am giving the order (for the second time), the person taking my order begins talking with someone else in the restaurant.  Thus, he is not able to hear me giving my order.  He begins trying to have a conversation with both of us at the same time.  At one point, I could not tell if he was talking to me or someone in the restaurant, so I asked.  When he replied that he was speaking to someone inside I asked him to focus on me and complete my order.  So he allowed me to finish my order and when I was done he said, “hold on a minute.”
At this point I was irritated to say the least.  I did not wait, I pulled around to get in line so I could talk with someone face to face at the window.  My wife, sensing that I was irritated, asked me not to be angry when I pulled up to the window.  I had every intention of asking for a manager, but I refrained.  When I pulled around to the window I was met by someone other than the person who had taken my order.  He was standing in the background.  Another lady took my order at the window and apologized for the bad headsets and explained that it was hard to hear through them.
What she needed to apologize for, was not the equipment, but the lack of service and courtesy provided by the individual taking my order. 
For those of you reading this, please do not mistake these words as a vent line.  Many of you work with people, you have families, attend churches, etc… You have the greatest opportunity to positively impact people when you give them your undivided attention. 
Remember these two things:
1)  Just like you, others want to be heard when they speak.
2)  Your service (marriage, organization, church, etc…) is only as good as your relationship with the customer.    

What is a bad customer experience that you have had?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at Wednesday, August 12, 2009 and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .