If you receive bad customer service, you may be a bad customer.
We’re all constantly surrounded by customer service personnel whether it’s at the grocery store, the post office, or a coffee shop. As someone who has been in the customer service field for over 4 years, I have seen countless customers but I am mostly impacted by the negative experiences that I, personally, have dealt with. The most common saying I hear from an unhappy customer is “This always happens to me!”. To that, I have two internal responses.
- “Really? This happens ALWAYS?”
If this is such a common experience you have, why do you keep returning to a store where this has happened multiple previous times? I feel like some customers strive to strike a deal or be right. At most places where orders are customized, you can usually get a free item or meal if they mess up. I honestly think that some people just search for opportunities to cause a scene and get something for free. At Starbucks, I probably have to comp a customer’s order at least twice a shift if I’m in a position where I have that option. The funny thing is, I sometimes have to do that for customers that I have seen come to the store for nearly a year. So I ask the question again…“If this constantly happens, why do you come back?” It’s obvious why those customers come back. They want something for free. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind compensating customers. In fact, I will take any opportunity I can in order to provide a positive experience for that customer. I take pride in my customer service. But when I see the same customer multiple times a week and when I have to constantly comp their order, I hate being taken advantage of. One of Starbucks’ morals for their partners is to “assume the best in others”. In other words, this means not to argue with the customer. You’re supposed to listen to their complaint and use the LATTE method to accommodate the customer.
Sometimes, complaints originate from guests who had a different [negative] experience from other stores they have visited and most of the time they’re polite and ask us why their order is different. We explain to them that we follow Starbucks standards in our roles and routines to ensure that the guests have a positive and consistent experience. Even though that it is company standard, we still get people calling corporate because they had a different experience than the last time. That practice doesn’t seem like the type of situation where the customer is right.
2. “If this always happens, maybe I’m not the problem.”
People have always thought that the customer is always right. Although I never point this out to anyone but myself, that’s hardly ever the case. Most of the time we have to talk very politely and do anything in our power to make the unhappy customer happy. We even do it if the customer is obviously in the wrong. There are probably over 60 drinks on our computer that you can order so if you’re the type of person who likes consistency and structure, you will probably learn to correctly order your drink after the first or second time. But for some of the people who “always” have bad experiences, it seems like they don’t know how to correctly order. Do we point it out to them? No. Why? Because if we do, we are showing the customer that they’re wrong. That’s not our job. But what we do is tell them that to make sure there is no confusion in the future, they need to order like this…“Blah Blah Blah”. You get it. Well that hardly ever works. And they return saying that it always happens.
Another thing I constantly hear customers in the morning say, is “Oh my gosh, can you hurry? I’m in a rush for work.” To that, I say in my head, “If you’re in such a hurry, why did you stop? Why did you go to one of the most populated places at 7 in the morning?” When I’m in a rush to someplace, I rush to that place. Not Starbucks. I again say in my head, “You knew you were in a hurry. You knew Starbucks would be super busy.” But we can’t tell them that. All we can say is something along the lines of, “We have a line of beverages on bar and yours is there. It will be out as soon as we get to it. Thank you for your patience.” It’s very difficult to stay composed all day at work when I’m constantly being asked multiple questions at once and being snapped at by people who are going to be late to work because they chose to stop. So next time you’re at a Starbucks or other fast food establishment, before you take out your frustrations on the employee, please remember they’re people too. Don’t immediately think that they’re in the wrong and they’re dumb…because it may turn out that you were misinformed. You don’t want to be the reason why that person had a bad day at work. And we don’t want to be the reason that you had a bad day at work. We are there to help. If you need some assistance, feel free to point it out. If you have any questions or concerns, ask us. We will use the best of our ability to make things right.
