Are you a good customer or a bad customer?

Often we spend a great deal of our lives waiting. We wait at the fast food restaurant, we wait in line at the post office, we wait in line at the driver license office or we wait in line at the grocery store. There are so many places that we have to stand in line and wait.

How you handle the waiting determines if you are a good customer or a bad customer. Do you get agitated with the cashier? Do you feel upset because you are in a hurry and they are just not moving the line along fast enough for you? Do you start to do the waiting dance, shifting from one hip to the other, tap your foot on the ground or just put your items back and just leave?

We all have to remember that the people that wait on us are there to do just that, wait on us, if we give them the time and we have the patients to wait. We also have to remember that just because we are in a hurry it does not mean that the rest of the world has to be in one a well. Customer service is just that, we have to be patient because the customer ahead of us is expecting to be served just like we are. They are waiting in line just like we are and they are expecting great customer service just like we are. There is no need to be anything other than nice to your customer service worker.

When you walk into a store and make a mess do you just leave it because there is someone that is there that is being paid to clean it up for you or do you offer to help clean it up likely being told no sir, or no mam we will get this for you? If you offer to clean it up and they refuse to let you do so that is being a great customer. If you make the mess and just leave it without a word that is being a bad customer.

Do you take your kids out to eat and they make a mess, do you leave it there for someone else to clean or do you make the effort to take care of the mess that your child has made? If you offer to clean it then that makes you a great customer, if you do not offer to help that makes you a bad customer.

When someone is waiting on you and they are trying to engage in conversation with you while they are trying to take care of you, do you engage in conversation back or do you just ignore the fact they are trying to talk to you? If you try to make small talk with them that makes you a great customer, if you ignore them it makes you a bad customer. Remember it is there job to get to know the customer, so the next time you walk in the door they will remember you.

If you have had a bad day at work do you take that out on your waiter, waitress? Remember it is not their fault that you have had a bad day. They are there to serve you! Remember to be nice to them. It will make you a great customer. If you chose to take your bad day out on them it will make you a bad customer. Again remember they are there to serve you, give them a chance to do so.

Customer service is one of the hardest jobs out there, these people must be nice to you even if you, yourself are not being nice. Just keep in mind that depending on the business that you are in one of these customer service workers might walk into  your business someday and return the favor.

Food for thought!

Gas Prices, how they really work!

Most people are unaware of how gas pricing works, I am not going to give out all the secrets but the next time you look at gas prices I want you to think of what all goes into deciding on  how much to charge for that gas.

1.It starts with the rigs that drill for that oil, the cost of the labor and employee benefits paid to those employees. That is going to determine the barrel cost.
2. Then the barrel has to be shipped to a refinery for further processing, so now you have more employees, employee benefits and now the cost of shipping the refined product to a distributor.
3. Once the gas hits the distributor, depending on the fuel you might have certain additives that must be added, then you get your rack price from there.
4. Now a fuel carrier must come and get the fuel to take it to all the local station to sell that fuel, so you now have a trucking company, with employees and employee benefits, truck costs and so on.
5. The product hits its final destination when it hits the gas station, you now have the rack price, plus the cost of shipping, stations are charged a per gallon shipped, not a per load shipped. It also depends on the product being shipped as to what the final cost will be and how far away from the distributor the stations are, the further away from the distributor, the higher the cost of that fuel.
6. Now that it is at the gas station, they have to set the margin that they need to pay for all of their expenses for bringing the gas to the consumer.

The margin on a typical gas station is very small, they do not make their money on gas, they make their money inside the store, just like a movie theater does not make its money on the tickets sales but more of the food and snack products offered inside. The same principal works for your gas stations, convenience stores.

Just a little food for thought.

My husbands father passed away, how can I help him?

The only thing that you can do for your husband is to be there to listen, stand by his side, when he is going through emotional times, hold him, be there, do not walk away. There are no words that can fix the fact that a loved one has passed away, when it is such a close family member all you can do is be there for them, take care of him, make his favorite meal, make sure he has a little less to worry about, be there to talk if he wants to talk, be there to cuddle if he wants to cuddle. Just be there for him. Remember people will handle this situation in different ways. Some will be angry and storm off for no apparent reason, others will be very emotional and cry uncontrollably, yet others will be very silent and just reflect. All you can do is let them go through the emotions, it is healthy for them to deal with it. He will never forget the fact that you were there in his hour of need and he will never forget how caring and understanding you were with him. Remember that as you are the one taking care of him, you may also find yourself a bit stressed and you may also need a family member or a friend to be there for you, that is not uncommon.

Your significant other wants to visit with you while you are at work, what do you do?

In most places of business, they will have set policies on this. The policy is usually do not do it. However there are places where your significant other can come and have lunch with you or just stop by and say hello. Check with your employer on their friends and family policies. If your employer frowns on friends and family stopping by, the correct thing to do is to talk with your significant other and let them know that you do appreciate them taking the time to come and see you and you appreciate the fact that they are thinking of you, but your place of employment is not the place to come and casually chit chat and hang out. This could cause issues with your employer, most employers do not encourage your family, friends or significant others coming in to visit. It is ok for them to be customers just not loafers at your place of business. If your significant other cares for you they will understand and it should not become an issue.

Do you have questions that you do not want to ask family or friends for advice on? Do you have issues and need a little help in trying to solve them. Come and join me, lets talk.