In one of my day jobs, I work in customer service. Sometimes I write about it.
From The Customer Service Worker’s Handbook
Tips
for customer service workers Part 23
Scenario
You’re half way through
a shift, you’re in full flow, firing on all cylinders. Full of good energy, you
greet your customer with a cheery ‘Hello, what can I get you?’ They do not
respond with anywhere near the same goodness of heart that you gave them. In
fact, they don’t even look at you. It’s as if their eyes are happy to land on
everything else around you, just not you. The bar, the drinks, the menu, the
ceiling. You give them the benefit of the doubt, believing they are just
orienting themselves. Perhaps they haven’t been in this bar before. Perhaps
they don’t know the etiquette of returning greetings.
They state their order
out loud, it is something like: ‘Cappucino’ and they project this word upwards
and over your head. Still they will not look at you. You need to know which
size they’d like, though for some reason you feel like you don’t want to bother
them. Luckily, you recognise this as madness and disregard it.
‘Small or large?’ you
ask.
‘Medium’, they answer.
‘We don’t do medium,
it’s small or large,’ you say.
They wave their hand,
much like The Queen might, but one from the olden days who is dismissing your
existence.
Then they say they’ll
have a ‘normal’ one.
How
can you best deal with this customer?
Replying,
‘But what is “normal”?’ : Should you or shouldn’t you?
Embarking on a debate
like this is risky. Whether or not you go down this route will depend on how much
energy you have left and also how cheeky you’re feeling.
If you do decide to
follow this up, you might try one of the suggestions here to start a debate:
But
what is ‘normal’?
Does
‘normality’ even exist?
Who
decides what ‘normal’ is? (In this case it’s whoever ordered
the cups but try to think big)
If your energy and
cheekiness levels are high, by all means enter into that potential debate about
societal norms, but do be prepared to be looked at blankly. See this as a
success – your customer is looking at you!
So
you’ve made the cappuccino
And you’ve put it on
the counter, in front of the customer, but they didn’t say anything. It’s
natural to feel a little deflated here, especially if you took some effort with
the presentation. But do remember that you are a professional cappuccino maker
and you take pride in your work regardless of your personal feelings about a
customer not treating you as a human being. Feel strong.
You tell them the price
of the price of the drink, most likely like this: ‘That’s [current price of a
cappuccino], please,’ in a sing-songy voice because despite everything, you
still feel manners are important. The sing-song is also tinged with intense
irritation but no one can prove it so it’s okay.
Something harmonious
happens next. It actually occurs in most customer/server transactions. It is
part of the customer/server dance. You were never trained in this particular
manoeuvre, it just ‘happens’. The customer sources their money, and you – you
hold out your hand.
To summarise - Them: money taken out of pocket/purse/wallet; You: hand held out. Writing the cold hard facts down in this way makes it sound
like a cold, callous moment. It is not. It is a smooth and easy moment of
connection.
However. The customer
does not accept your offer of hand. They do not want this, this direct
transferal of money from one human to another. They disregard your hand.
They
put their coins on the counter.
What
do you do next?
There is only one thing
you can do in this situation. And, despite the fact that you are a good person,
you will do it because it has been done to you. And you will do it because
there is logic in it. If the customer put the payment on the counter, they
surely, surely, must want their change on the counter too. You are tending to
their individual preference. This is a good quality.
And so, without great
pleasure, for you are not petty – you put their money into the till and you take
out their change, and – here again comes the dance of synchronicity – they know
it too – they hold out their hand, and you – you place those coins on the
counter.
And there is harmony
again.
