Whatever happened to customer service?

Is customer service dead as we know it? I’m not sure it’s dead, but the toe tag has been affixed and a priest has been called to administer last rites.

Customer service in this country has been fading into oblivion for decades now, replaced by technology and a workforce that no longer cares.

Technology has given us a way around customer service, by taking the human factor out of the equation and making the customer work harder for what we used to receive automatically. And with today’s younger workforce, the $7.75 per-hour wage they receive doesn’t include room for courtesy, much less good service.

I am old enough to remember when going to the gas station meant you never had to get out of your car. They filled your tank, topped off the fluids, checked the air in your tires, and even got you a 10 cent soda out of the machine. And all you had to do was ask. Now, you pump your own gas, pay through a machine, (for an extra 60 cents) shell out $ 1.50 for a soda and check your own fluids. This is progress?

I recently went into a store looking for a small refrigerator for my “man cave.” I asked a young lady who worked there where I could find one. She said I should look in housewares. After looking in housewares for 20 minutes I came upon her again.

“I couldn’t find any,” I said affixing my “man lost in a store” look. She then said with absolutely no reservations in her voice, “then we’re out.” There was no offer to order one, no offer to search in the back, no concern to make a sale at all. This type of service is typical of the workforce today.

These self-service checkout stands at the grocery store are technology run amok. Instead of waiting in line with everybody else while an actual human being rings up my purchases, I can take my package of Slim Jims, Diet Mountain Dew and Preparation H to a self-service checkout stand and be in and out in no time right? Wrong.

The scanner rung my Slim Jims up at $15.82, my Diet Mountain Dew at $7.50 and my Preparation H is $4,382.17. By the time the scanner assistant comes to assist me, the line I was in with the human scanning my purchases is empty.

Finally, this practice of the tip jar has got to stop. Everywhere you look, coffee stands, donut shops and every cash register has a little jar for tips. Now I consider myself an excellent tipper. Even if the food wasn’t so good as long as the service was I usually tip 20 percent.

But if I am waiting for you to make my hazelnut mocha, don’t expect much of a tip. You are not waiting on me, I am waiting for you.

And remember all you poor souls in active contact with the general public, good customer service doesn’t cost you anything. But, poor customer service can cost you something more important than dollars and cents: your reputation.

Todd Nuttman is a columnist for the Kent Reporter. Contact him by sending your comments to Editor Laura Pierce at lpierce@reporternewspapers.com.