SATURDAY APRIL 9TH 4PM
UN-NAMED CONVENIENCE STORE
UNIVERSITY AVE NEAR MCKINLEY ST
ACROSS FROM UL LAFAYETTE DORM
On our way to the UL Spring Football Game at Cajun Field, my son and I stopped at the unnamed convenience store across from UL's dorms on University Ave to get a drink. My son, a sucker for ICEEs, fixed himself a Coke/Wild Cherry mix, while I headed for the bottled water. There were a few patrons, purchasing various items. By the time we headed to the counter, we were the only two that remained in the store. We placed our drinks on the counter and the female clerk noticed that my son's ICEE had some spillage. She very politely informed him of the residual ICEE on the side of his cup and proceeded to get a couple of napkins to wipe it for him. I told her how appreciative I was and made sure that my son told her how grateful he was too (I am a parent after all!).
I thought, "Wow, I'm impressed! She exceeded my expectations for a convenience store clerk." As soon as that thought entered the satisfaction portion of my brain, I heard it.
It's the sound to which we are all accustomed. It comes in various forms. Traditionalists opt for the old-fashioned bell tone. Modernists prefer a more digital, robotic tone. Some settle on animal noises (one of my personal favorites). The advanced actually have music--a favorite R&B singer, a tribute to an '80s hair band, or even a line from Stevie Wonder's "I just called to say 'I love you'". Regardless of personal choice, we can all recognize the sound of a cell phone ringtone.
"There's no way she's going to answer it," I thought. "Please don't answer it...WE'RE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRANSACTION! MY CREDIT CARD IS STILL BEING AUTH..."
"Hey! What y'all doin'?......No!......For real!...."
DEFLATED
You know that sound you hear when you slowly let air out of a balloon? And you see that once robust, strong and powerful balloon, shrivel down to a wrinkled, lifeless piece of rubber. That's what happened to my expectations.
There was no "Hey, let me call you back" or "I can't talk right now". The personal conversation kept on going. It even continued while my son struggled to get the wrapper off of his straw. She demonstrated to him how he should remove the wrapper in the most uncomfortable multi-tasking event I can remember. And she did all this without missing a word of her conversation.
My balloon was completely deflated.
We weren't thanked for our business as we exited. When we got in the car, I erupted into laughter. My son asked me what was so funny. After I finally composed myself, I asked my son, "You didn't notice anything strange about what happened in there with that lady?"
My son said, "No. I thought she was nice."
"Yeah, but you didn't notice anything else?"
"No."
"Son, she answered her cell phone and kept talking on it while she was waiting on us."
He responded dumb-founded, "So."
And it dawned on me--he has no idea that is wrong! But you know it's wrong, right? Right?
THE DEVICE DIVORCE
You've seen this before. You pull up to the drive-thru window at Burger King to pay for your order. While the credit card is running and the food is cooking, the employee/cashier is texting away. Is he sending a message to corporate to order more fries? Is he sending a mass text to invite all of his close family and friends to try the new Triple Stacker combo to increase the sales at Burger King? What is so important to him that compelled him to text while at work? Was he reporting a burglary? Maybe he was voting for the next American Idol.
This is not just at Burger King and the unnamed convenience store--it's everywhere. Employees all over are using their devices while on the clock. If you walk into a retail establishment and an employee has his head down, he's probably not praying, admiring the carpet or checking to see if his shoes are untied. He's on his device!
With the exception of retail cellular phone employees, you should never be on your personal cell phone at work.
When you're an employee, on the clock, and you are on your personal cell phone, this is what you are saying to me: "This call is important to me. You are not. You'll get over it if I am not doing my best at my job because you are going to buy something from me anyway! You loser!"
The "loser" part may be conjecture, but you get my point.
Now, this is what I'm feeling: "Wow. I'd like to take your device, smash it into a million pieces and then make you clean it up. After you take my order!"
Most of the time the device-at-work users give bad service from top to bottom. They usually speak very little. They usually don't smile and rarely make eye contact. They occasionally say "thank you", but it is in such a robotic, scripted, monotoned voice that they might as well have said "piss off" (and if they are saying
"thank you", it may only be because there is a sign on their register that says "if our server fails to thank you, your next ________is free". And why? Because it's all about the device!
Like drug addicts. Like alcoholics. Like smokers. They need their fix. Their fingers long to touch an iPhone screen. Their fingers long to send abbreviated messages to the fingers of their significant others. They long to play Words With Friends. Their ears desire to press up against a dirty cell phone receiver. "Help me!" they shout. "Save me from this mundane existence of life without constant contact!"
How do we divorce ourselves from our devices? At least at work, for Pete's sake!
THE DEVICE PLAN
The worker at the unnamed convenience store is an anomaly. She insulted me by answering her phone while, I, the customer, was still trying to purchase goods from her. But she kind and helpful and did something I would never have expected from a convenience store cashier when she offered to wipe my son's cup. She did something really good and then something really bad.
So to me it begs the question: Can an employee that is nice, friendly, courteous, and helpful, AND answers a personal phone call while waiting on you, still give you good customer service?
This may shock you when I say this but....It looks like it's possible. And I am as traditional as they come!
LIVING WITH CANCER
Here's my take on cell phones--I think they are one of the greatest inventions. They have made our existence much more convenient. I can get in touch with someone in so many ways. I can call them from anywhere. I can text them. I can email them. Everyone has become more conveniently accessible to me.
Here's my other take on cell phones--I think they are a cancer in the work place. They are too distracting. With so many cool features, they give us so much accessibility and entertainment. But while we're paying attention to lights, bells and whistles, the cancer is slowly eating away at our attention span, our prioritizing, and our duty to our employers and customers. With everything a cell phone can do, how can anyone possibly give work 100% of their attention?
So if the phone doesn't go away, will the customer ever go away?
We can't go away. We're consumers, and that's what we do--we consume.
As evident by our cell phone usage, we like convenience. And if shopping at a place is more convenient, even if it means that we know we will get horrible service from someone who can't put his cell phone down while waiting on us, we'll do it. Because we have a tendency to justify it: "Sure, he texted what only could have been the Preamble to the Constitution while I waited forever for my groceries to be bagged, but at least he told me to 'have a nice day.'"
Maybe this is where society is going. Maybe it's possible for an employee to attend to his own personal needs, while at the same time, attending to the needs of his customer, as long as he is friendly. We're all encouraged to multi-task in the work place. Could this be a revolution in multi-tasking? Can we live with "cancer"?
Then let's redefine customer service. Let's make it a "win-win" situation.
The employee wins when she gets to talk on her cell phone whenever she wants.
The customer wins when...........well, when..........when, um.............
Are you starting to hear crickets? Maybe it's someone's cell phone ring tone. Hey, are you being waited on at a convenience store right now?
Yeah, I'm starting to wonder how the customer wins too.
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