SERVICE
I think often about service, in various manifestations. I think about people who devote their lives to service of others: Policemen, firemen, members of the armed forces, ministers, volunteers. Their dedication and sacrifice to help us all has been particularly impressive in recent days. But what I want to write about now is a different use of the word, the service we receive at lunch counters, doctors' offices, hotels and other establishments. This kind of service provides us a product, something we pay for. This kind of service has a lot to do with how we value the product. I would go so far as to say that a mediocre product delivered with good service can make us believe the product is superior. Moreover, this kind of service has a lot to do with how we feel generally and can make or ruin our day. This kind of service is primarily a function of the attitude of the service giver, of how the service giver treats us in delivering the product.
We all hope a service giver looks at us as a valued customer, someone to be treated with courtesy and respect. We all hope the service giver has enough self-respect to desire to do the best job possible, to desire to deliver the product efficiently, to desire to make a friend of the customer, to show the product in the best possible light. Something is missing. however, in many service givers. They treat the customer as a distraction, as interfering with their day, as a supplicant who is there to beg for the product, as an annoyance to be eliminated as quickly as possible. This kind of attitude hurts the customer, hurts the business trying to sell its product and hurts the service giver.
I hear stories all the time about poor service, from friends and colleagues, in the newspaper and on the internet. People speak of rudeness when contacting so-called help lines, at garages, at airline ticket counters, at restaurants. People are met with indifference when they seek to correct problems. People are met with antagonism when they seek products. I was surprised to find that businesses frequently employ secret shoppers to test service because they have so many concerns about poor service. But until recently I've been sheltered from bad service. I've generally been pleased with the service givers I encounter. They work hard to deliver the best product possible and make friends with the customers and they generally succeed with me.
My run of good service experiences was shattered by a doctor I consulted about my shoulder injury. My usual doctor, who had helped me before with similar injuries, was traveling so I went to a younger doctor in his office. After 90 seconds of examination, the younger doctor told me to come back in 3 or 4 weeks if my shoulder wasn't improved. In 3 weeks, my usual doctor returned to the office so I went back to him. He ordered an MRI which revealed one torn tendon and another tendon which had been pulled from its groove in the bone, requiring surgical correction. The young doctor's poor service and inattention, his lack of interest in my shoulder, cost me 3 additional weeks of pain. This was still only an annoyance to me, but the same lack of care could cost another patient valuable time to cure a more serious condition, could cause a condition to degrade, could even be life-threatening in certain circumstances. I learned not to assume that all doctors, even in the same office, will give the same level of service and that I have to be more demanding in insisting on good service.
The broader lesson here is that we need to actively seek out good service, to demand it. If we don't get the service we all deserve it's our own fault. We should first try to change the mind and heart of the service giver and show him or her that it's in his or her own interest to give good service. We can also try to make the same point with managers and more senior executives. Unfortunately, many poor service givers won't listen. In that case, there is only one answer, the only completely reliable answer to poor service: refusal to patronize establishments offering poor service. In that way, the poor service providers will be encouraged, if not forced, to give better service. One way or another, we pay for good service and are entitled to get it.
10-22-01
Home Page 2001 Archives 2000 Archives 1999 Archives