Irony on the rocks with a twist...

I’ve come to wonder a great deal about customer service in America. It seems as though somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten the old axiom: “The customer is always right.”

Harkening back to “...The good old days...” when the customer/merchant relationship was generally an interpersonal one, the people that one relied on for basic goods and services were generally well-known and respected, and they were most likely the only person providing that particular good or service for miles around. That was then, this is now.

Now we have stores on every corner offering the same goods and services. We have mega-stores like Super Wal-Marts and Super K-Marts offering everything under one roof. With so many choices within easy reach, it seems as though there is little reason to worry about an individual customer anymore. People don’t seem to care so much about whether or not they keep customers because just like these venues, there seems to be an endless supply of them. Businesses providing goods and services seem to value volume customers rather than individual ones.

Wal-Mart led the way with its innovative stocking system. As purchases are made, the items purchased are recorded by a computer and sent over the company network to a distribution center, which automatically loads the trucks with replacements based upon those purchases. Most stores use this approach. If you are looking for something that is obscure or hard to find, chances are you will not find it at stores that use this approach: if it doesn’t sell, it doesn’t get stocked. Items that really don’t sell get discounted and are never heard from again. When the quest is desperate, its time to go looking for the small “Mom and Pop” stores. They are harder to find, but they are still out there.

As a homeowner, I spend some amount of time at the local Home Depot. Most of the time, when you ask one of the associates where some item is, they don’t know, they barely know whichever area they are responsible for themselves. The same is true of most of the large store chains. Occasionally, you’ll get the “expert,” but these people are usually so busy helping so many people, that the line forms to the left and never ends. Many of these people are busy restocking shelves or tending to tasks they were assigned by management. The volume of customers is so large that it is difficult for associates to complete their tasks while also trying to memorize the location of items throughout the store. Try calling a store to get information, they will call the department that is understaffed and overwhelmed, you’ll be lucky to get what you need. Companies and businesses don’t seem to put the same value in customer service anymore. They have become too big and too worried about profits to care about individual customer needs. They do such a volume of business that they can afford to let their reputation slip. For every

dissatisfied customer who walks out, three more customers walk in. Why should they care? Apathy is rampant. Manners are a thing of the past. People want everyone to treat them like royalty, while they are allowed to get away with treating everyone else like shit. We have become a society based upon the “cake-and-eat-it-too” mentality. Not only do we demand it, we believe we deserve it without having earned it.

So just like any trend in America, this story has two sides. Perhaps customer service has declined because we have so much to choose from. Perhaps it is our own arrogant attitudes and apathy towards others as well. People expect the moon but don’t want to pay for the trip. Is it any wonder other nations see us as spoiled brats?

TANSTAAFL!