When Common Sense and Customer Service Collide

Do you know what, “smack yourself in the head because it is so unbelievably idiotic customer service,” is? Probably, but in case you don’t (and to read some ideas on how to fix it) keep reading…

I was at Barnes and Nobles with my friend Fred Gleeck (we were in Las Vegas during our November Speaking School). Fred needed to return a book. B&N was slow this evening and there as no line, so we walk right up to the register. When we tell the girl there want to return something, she says she has to call her manager. No problem, we’ll wait.

A woman then walks up into line behind us. Fred says to the cashier, “why don’t you help her while we wait?”
“I can’t,” the B&N employee responds.

“Oh, did you already start entering this into the system?”

“No, I am just not supposed to push customers aside to help the next in line.”

“But I’m saying it’s ok,” Fred responds. “I don’t mind.”

“I still can’t. It’s out policy. I am supposed to stay 100% focused on the current customer.”

Fred is (understandably) exasperated at this. “But it shouldn’t matter. I’m the person being pushed aside and I say it’s ok.”

“I still can’t. I’m not supposed to, and I don’t want to get into trouble with my boss. They have cameras and stuff.”

What.

The.

Heck?!

This is a common case of policy gone wrong. A rule designed to help give “great customer service,” ends up inconveniencing customers. And it comes across as ridiculously stupid.

Why do companies assume that a series of rules will be able to cover any and all situations that arise? Have they never lived a day in the world and realized that weird stuff will happen?

Rules are good, as guidelines. But to demand slavish adherence to those rules in customer service situations is ridiculous.

In this story, the girl was clearly unwilling to do something different because “big brother was watching.” Are we, as a workforce, so unbelievably stupid as that we can not be trusted with a modicum of free will and judgment? (Ok, based on some of my blog posts, there are a lot of people that can not be trusted with judgment. But I refuse to say we should throw our hands up in the air and give up. We can not let stupidity win out! Rage, rage against the dying of the light!)

I understand that the franchise, “e-myth,” model is often cited as a key to success, but how we can you apply a rigid system to something as unpredictable as human interaction? You can’t!

It’s easy and makes perfect sense to systematize the making of a hamburger. There is no randomness to it, it can be taught, and it ensures that every customer gets the same burger experience every time. The same can not be said of communication. Everyone is different, ergo every situation is different.

Customer service needs to be taught as a series of guiding principles, not as a series of fixed policy rules. Employees need to be trained on how to communicate effectively and with consideration, not on how to follow a step by step flowchart that may or may not apply. Employees who are too inconsiderate, rude, stupid, or apathetic to learn and follow the principles should be replaced (or at least moved from customer interaction situations).

And that, my friends, is how you avoid having, “smack yourself in the head because it is so unbelievably idiotic,” customer service.