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!