Recently, many different people's experiences working in customer service have been brought to my attention, and many of these situations have been far from pleasant.
This is not to neglect that some people in customer service are not the most pleasant of people, there is a fair share of employees who are not pleasant to interact with. There are also several customers who are wonderful toward employees.
I have been told about customers becoming angry with employees because of the store, restaurant, etc running out of a certain product or because the customer does not agree with the price on a good or service.
While these occurrences can be frustrating as a paying customer who has an expectation, more often than not, the employee has no control over what has happened in regards to the stock or price on a product and can't make your product magically appear.
On one hand, it is important as a conscientious employee to pay attention to buying patterns, recognize if something is in demand or if the company is not meeting customers needs. Since the people in customer service see consumer's needs nearly every day, it could be beneficial to pay attention and report it to either a manager or a buyer and merchandiser to help build the company to be stronger. However, in that moment, it is not a waitress or salesperson's fault that they simply cannot provide you with exactly what you want in that instance.
The employees trying to help consumers are generally not responsible for the price or stock of an item. They are trained on selling a product, or taking care of the customer's needs as best as they can, and that is that. Hopefully they have the ability to provide alternatives, or explanations to a customer but I see and hear people still get so angry towards this even when an employee does the best they can.
As a consumer, it is so much more beneficial to reach out to the company to provide feedback on experiences and perspectives than to take it out on an employee for something that is not their fault.
While the treatment of employees often seems to deteriorate when some customer's needs are not met to a T, I have seen a general lack of respect for people in customer service in general.
I think we, as consumers, are so ready to get our needs met that we forget that the people serving us are people too. Everybody deserves common courtesy, and being courteous to another human being (who is no different than you or me) should not be energy that is hard to expend.
Genuine people are working as waiters and waitresses, and I know that a lot of the time people do not give them the time of day. A lot more often than not, a person in customer service will ask how you are doing, but how many times in a day are they asked that same question in return? If there is one thing I have learned from others who work in customer service, my own experiences working in customer service and as a customer, I have learned that it is the little things that can make a day bright.
These jobs that people work are not easy. The hours are long, they are juggling several customers at once, can become flustered and are often scolded for issues they have nothing to do with. Every day, they go home from work and face real problems, they live their days the same way you and I do, and so often they do the best that they can as your server.
The bottom line is they are human. They are somebody's son, daughter and best friend and they deserve the same respect that you would give to a friend of yours. After a person works a job in customer service, I hear about how they will always treat employees with more respect because they now realize what it is like to be in their shoes but for so many people they still do not see the importance of this. There is nothing to lose by being a little bit more patient, a little more understanding and a little friendlier to a person. You never know how your small actions, good or bad can impact another person's day.
