I’ve been watching you.

Yeah, that chill you got last Saturday while shopping was probably me. 

And some of you folks are no treat to deal with. 

But before I get into that, let’s talk about Bad Service.  It gets all the press.  Bad service gets Twitter all atwitter as people write about their bad experiences at Best Buy or with HP or at the local Mini Mart.    Bad service gets all the chatter in the hallways and the lunchrooms as people talk about the rude waitress or the incompetent accountant or the indifferent business owner.

But I’ve been watching you.  And it often takes two to tango.    

A big part of the problem with Bad Service may be you.

I saw you at the check out line in Costco when you didn’t even think to put those heavy items in your cart with the bar code facing up or god forbid, hoist them up on the belt.  Nope, that’s not your job.  Then I saw you get all snippy thinking the cashier lady (who weighed all of about 90 pounds) was being too rough with your stuff as she struggled mightily to lift items so she could scan.   I blame you for that Bad Service experience.  

I saw you never even look up at the gas station clerk as you ignored her outstretched hand and instead placed your $20 bill on the counter for her to retrieve it.  She responded in kind and placed your change right back on the counter where you dropped your cash.  I saw that look as you clumsily collected your bills, quarters and pennies.  I bet you complained about that experience later but I blame you for that Bad Service experience.  

I saw you tell that animated story to your husband about how you showed up “wicked early” Monday morning at the Auto repair shop to get that muffler fixed (early for you being 8:30 am I guess…) and how ticked off you were that “they couldn’t tell me how long it would take” and that you had “to call back like at 1pm and it still wasn’t done!”.   I blame you for that Bad Service experience.

My guess is that a lot of you see this kind of thing happening too.   And maybe it’s not just at the store.  Maybe you see it happening at work.  Bad Service at work gets a lot of attention too.  But maybe people who say they are getting Bad Managing or Bad Teamwork or Bad Advice aren’t totally blameless.   Maybe we should take a closer look at all those “Bad Service” claims altogether.  

Here’s watching you.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark