Service With A Grimace, the Nelson Way

Voices, The Nelson Mail, 7 January 2006
Whatever happened to service with a smile?

Nelson gets a hard rap for its customer service. Residents are expected to put up with inferior service because in line with the sunshine hours pay rates way of thinking, you get the feeling that you shouldn't complain when service isn't up to par.

When I asked where my cutlery might be on one occasion, I was given the brush-off, so typical in this town. “It's over there” replies the oh-so casual waiter, clearly far too busy to make an exception to the fetch-yer-own-cutlery policy. Dining alongside breathtaking scenery the fact that you weren't given a fork and a knife with your lunch SHOULD be overlooked, sweetheart. Just get out of your chair and get it yourself.Of course Nelson isn't the only place with bad service.

Recently in Tauranga a friend and I ordered a couple of milkshakes at a café. Hers deviated from the one on the menu - mine was exactly the same. “It would be easier if you had the same milkshakes.” said the I'd-rather-be-somewhere-else waitress. Right. I contemplated that for a second. So I pay $4.50 to have a drink I didn't really want? No way! I delivered my decision back to the waitress. Within minutes she was back with our two differing milkshakes. So what was so hard about that again? Perhaps she should have just said “Actually I can't be arsed making TWO milkshakes. I want to go home and get drunk instead.” Because that is often what lies beneath bad service is it not? The distinct impression that this person serving you would rather be somewhere else.

The woman in the department store in the middle of a gossip session with her colleagues. The dairy owner on the phone who continues to serve you without making eye contact. The taxi driver who drives in total grumpy silence as you sit in the back of the taxi watching your fare escalate. The bar tender who treats you as if you're not good enough for HIS bar. The service desk employee who sighs down the phone as you ask what is obviously a stupid question - for the umpteenth time that day.

I've been on the other side. As a waitress I was hardly known for my silver service techniques. A natural klutz, I was typically hung over, tired, PMSing, in love, out of love, on a sugar high, or on a sugar low. Behind the bar I sometimes mixed up people's drink orders. Telemarketing I worked so hard at “smiling down the phone” my face just about ached by the end of my shift. I too often daydreamed about better days.

I've served grumpy, impatient, unreasonable and just plain rude customers. Some deserved a good slap across the face. Yet I was taught that the customer always comes first. No matter how annoying they are.

It's no picnic working in the service industry. But what happened to service with a smile? These days it's often more like service with a grimace. Of course there is good service out there. But it is a rarity to find the kind of service where you feel valued, that comes with an in built feel-good factor - and has you coming back for more. Smile like you mean it. You never know - one day you might.