In Korean there is a common phrase summarizing the philosophy of the service industry, which is that the "consumer is king." The employees working for the shopping mall, restaurant, hotel, or any other service industry should answer to all of the customer's needs as if the customer was a king, showing the level of politeness, accommodation, and hospitality that should be afforded. When I was growing up in America, this was the "customer is always right" approach that I heard of working at Jewel Osco as a high school student.
First of all, the customer is not always right; they are often wrong, but it's the philosophy of "whatever you say, we won't argue with you" and deference to the customer's needs and attitudes that is key in this customer service philosophy, which I think is missing in many service industries in America. The customer may be wrong, but it's up to you as the service industry employee to inform them in the most gentle way possible, or be flexible in how you deal with the customer's wrong idea, to best navigate the situation, not just give a blunt "no."
When I go to a sit-down restaurant, I often see pretty bad service, which makes me not want to go to sit-down restaurants anymore. I get that the waiters or waitresses are not the most motivated to be there and are not paid the best (some very little), but sometimes they also just do the bare minimum and just expect to receive a tip, almost like it's mandatory for me to give 15%-20% (now it's a minimum 18% at most restaurants, it seems like). For doing what? just taking our order and doing a routine "how's everything tasting" every once in a while? And I actually don't want busboys coming as soon as I'm halfway done with my plate to ask if I'm done with my food, I'm usually not and have to tell them not to take it, adding an extra complication to my dining experience, just that extra little pressure of having to explain that I'm not done and don't take it. Often, the attitude at a restaurant or other place where I pay them money to do something is like I need to show them respect to be there, or I should feel lucky that I get to dine on their food. Which is kind of the philosophy of France and Mexico and some other countries in the world, but not in Asian countries like Korea and Japan (where it really is like the customer is king) and as it's advertised in America based on the extra money we pay to the service industry (but not necessarily earned based on performance).
Recently MJ has been in the hospital, and although I'm not sure that nurses are required to be as courteous, respectful, and accommodating as those in the service industry, it's still important to make the patient feel comfortable and respected, in many cases even more critical because the patient can't perform certain functions by themselves like walk, use the restroom, or even eat any food. It's important to not make the patient feel uncomfortable in asking for help, which includes not being dismissive, hinting that the patient should go home soon, or that the request, no matter how burdensome, is fulfilled without question. MJ is a very sensitive person, so she can sense when people are being reluctant or unwilling to her demands, so she feels bad about asking nurses to help her using the restroom and cleaning up after her. Certain nurses were really upstanding and always willing to help at a moment's call, but some nurses at the hospital she worked at seemed like they didn't want to help that much, were grossed out about having to deal with her using the restroom (cleaning up after the body waster) and often seemed to just want her to go to sleep (MJ even suspected they gave her some drugs to get her to go to sleep a little faster), which is not OK but also just indicative of taking shortcuts. Unfortunately, that makes MJ less willing to ask for everything that she wants in the future, which is a failure for the service person, and unfortunately in a hospital she can't just opt not to use the service; at a restaurant we would just stop going to the restaurant and paying. It just seems like nowadays the service industry just wants to take as many shortcuts as possible and get the customer out of there with as little effort and in as little time as possible so that they can go back to looking at their phones or pursuing their own efforts. Me included, I work in the service industry too, the legal service industry, and I can say confidentially that lawyers charge a significant fee but then don't do as much work as you'd expect that large amount of money to provide.
So in general, I think the American service industry needs to pick up its game to keep up with other countries that do actually provide great service. Otherwise customers like MJ will stop asking for stuff and just not spend the money. Heck, many countries have service staff who speak English for American tourists! How many service staff in America can speak other languages? They just give you a dirty look, forcing the customer to have to try to speak the limited English that they have or just pull out money. As a customer, I should not have to try to work hard to make it work for the service staff, even if I'm as sensitive and caring about other people's feelings as MJ. The service people should make it as comfortable to ask for anything that the customer wants, and not the other way around.
No comments:
Post a Comment