The Death Of Customer Service

It’s Time To Call Them Out

Recently, my girlfriend and I went out for an early morning breakfast to what was our new favorite breakfast spot “The Bohemian Bagel Cafe” (yes I’m calling you out, more on this later)… Now “The Boh” as they call themselves have a somewhat strange policy at the door. They sometimes have a hostess, sometimes just a sign on the podium that reads “Seat yourself” or “Please wait to be seated.” On this particular morning, we happened to walk right past the sign and sat ourselves, not realizing it was “Please-wait-to-be-seated-sign-day” at The Boh. What followed next was a glaring example of how customer service has completely withered and died in recent years.

1. We were acknowledged with a glare by the hostess returning to her post at the front, then completely ignored.
2. We had to get up to get our own menus from the podium as the hostess just stood there and watched.
3. The hostess walked by our table, snapped “Hi” at us and kept walking.
4. Our server arrived, explained the features (this was about 10 mins after we sat ourselves) and took our orders for coffee.

We were finally relieved to receive some service, and finally have some coffee on the way….or so we thought.

Four minutes later, there was still no coffee…I looked up to see our server, across the restaurant, not getting our coffee, but rather writing out the breakfast features on the chalkboard on the wall.

Oh, I should mention that we were one of only two tables in the restaurant with 4-5 staff members on the floor at this time.

I was absolutely dumbfounded at the lack of customer service. My girlfriend grabbed another staff member passing by, and ordered our coffees again, but I had seen enough.

When our coffees arrived, I asked the server why they were making it so difficult and uncomfortable for us to enjoy their services. “Why are you making us feel so unwelcome here?” I asked. “Why are you treating us poorly because we accidentally sat ourselves?” When she could offer no apology nor an explanation, we left.

In my opinion, your business is your home, your staff is your family and your patrons are your guests in your home. Unlike your home, your guests are paying to be there.

So from now on, if your policies are detrimental to your guests experience, if your job title somehow empowers you to treat your guests poorly, I’m calling you out. I suggest you do the same.

CALL THEM OUT !

Alaskan Airlines, your kiosk closes an hour and a half before your flights leave and nowhere is this stated on your e-registration. I showed up 5 mins after it closed, contacted your President on the phone and he told me there was no way to contact his staff beyond security (even though I could see them and they ignored me flagging them over and mocked me) and that I would miss my flight which still had an hour and twenty minutes before boarding. (Yep, if there is a security concern, a death, a threat etc. I was told there is no way to alert the plane, the staff, anyone. In the age of technology I was told they have no communication devices beyond the security gate to convey this) I’m calling you out!

Hey Grand 10 Cinemas! I walked all the way through your empty theater with my arms full of popcorn, pop, etc, and was stopped by the manager and told I had to walk back across the entire theater to get my ticket ripped because it was her job to enforce “policy.” I’m calling you out!

Call them out!!! These high-horse riders who have adopted these outdated grandfathered policies that are at odds with common sense need to be called out for their lack of respect towards their house guests. Don’t Yelp it, don’t walk away and tell your friends, that does nothing. Confront them, challenge them on their policies, tell them, as a paying guest in their home, how it makes you feel.

Call them out. Customer service is dead, and the blood drips from the hands of the soldiers who have come to believe that a title on a name tag and a sheild of company policy is enough to absolve them of any fault.

But it doesn't. Because we’re left paying for a cold corpse that used to be a welcome experience, and we, as guests to any business or so-called “service” deserve better when we enter their house.

CALL THEM OUT.