Jaclyn IWU
FRI, 12 AUGUST 2016-Customer service….very common word but with huge effects and meaning when it comes to our work and jobs. Sadly, a lot of business owners and career minded people in this part of the world do not give a hoot about their customer services. I even discovered that most do not even understand what the word it self means. I always observe workers do their their work everywhere I go without caring about how their clients and customers feel.
Some days ago I went to a big exclusive supermarket in Wuse 2 Abuja with my sister who even has a diamond discount card with them for her regular shopping there. …very popular one (but I will not want to mention the name of the supermarket due to how one smart staff redeemed their image ) In fact most of the staff know my sister and her family but it turned out that on this particular day, the unfortunate moronic cashier that we dealt with decided to play some nasty games with us.
People, always check your printed receipt and do not be in a hurry to crosscheck what you bought and what you have on the printout receipt. I and my sister actually made that mistake that day ….or probably because we never expected such silly mistake from a big supermarket and again for the fact that we shop there weekly. We got home and something pushed me to go through the receipt and what we bought because somehow i felt the money was far too much looking at the content we bought. When I went through the receipt, I discovered that the cashier over charged us and to say I was furious was an understatement. My sister was so tired and angry at the same time when I insisted we drive back immediately since we just left the place and the items we bought were still intact.
We got there and to add insult to injury, the imbecile of cashier tried to wriggle out of his lousy mistake or would I say attempt theft and tried to intimidate us. Oh boy, if you want to see the real Jackie, such situations brings out the bitch in me. As a matter of fact, this bloody cashier made a mistake by adding the wholesale price of one item that we picked and rather than him to accept and apologize, he wanted us to simply swallow his mistake and walk away without a refund. I do not care how much money I have but how can one justify and be happy when you were charged almost 500 naira for an item that cost 60 naira? I do not do this kind of stupid Nigerian big-manism. It is simply not Jackie. You must bleed for wanting to make me look like a mugu. As voices were raised one of the staff who i understood was a supervisor and who now recognized my sister walked over gently and demanded what was wrong…(bless you supervisor…your employer should pay you more for what you did that day)….in fact he was even the one that pointed out the mistake and the cashier was still busy claiming right. This supervisor immediately calm us down, did a new receipt and apologized on the behalf of the rude cashier. As we left , that cashier was still grumbling and never-ever –said he was sorry for his mistake. Honestly, if it was abroad….that cashier would have been fired instantly. Can you folks compare the two types of customer service that took place between us and the two staff of this particular supermarket? A lot of business owners have lost credible and regular customers due to bad attitudes of their staff. Of course most business owners are hardly around to monitor how their staff treat customers but i feel they should make it a duty to give their staff regular in-house training on CUSTOMER SERVICE relating to the kind of business they do. Couple of weeks after, i went back and i was looking out for that cashier but never saw him. I am not sure if he has been fired or not but i will continue to check each time i go there to shop.
Honestly, if not for that supervisor of that supermarket who solved our problem i would have used my media links as well to do my own ugly stuff about that supermarket. Oh yeah….what exactly do you expect me to do huh? Some one purposely ripped me off and had no remorse to apologize even when discovered and you want me to play good girl with him? Gimme a damn good break please. I do not take bullshit from people because that is one of the major reason we suffer in this country today. Nigerians know the right thing to do but they derive joy and pleasure in doing the wrong things and boasting of it as well without any care in the world. Of course the cashier never knew who i was and that was the tricky thing about making sure your customer service shines always because you never know whom your lousy habits will bite. You are not supposed to single out customers to be nice and not to be nice to. Every customer/client must be treated with same respect and kindness as well as loyalty. Hey, do not think you are doing your clients and customers a huge favour by having a good customer service. You gain more than them because there are lots of competitors who do the same business you do but they chose to patronize you. So if you become lousy, you have given them the ticket to switch and patronize your competitors and you lose out. Again, one unsatisfied customer will spread the whole verbal poison same way a satisfied customer will spread the good words about your services. Of course you know what this means.
This is just one example of how workers lose/save customers and either destroy or grow their career/business.
How about waiters in restaurants and fast foods? I was at a Chinese restaurant somewhere along Aminu kano Crescent Abuja some time ago and a waiter was rude just because we complained that our boiled potatoes which by the way took ages to be served alongside other boring dishes were uncooked. It also took the intervention of the manager to save the day. Why must it be supervisors and managers always correcting their staff in front of customers when the milk is already spilled? Why can’t these managers and supervisors take time out to train these staff and avoid embarrassment? Is it that they do not know their staff lack good customer service or what?
Anyway, i never forgot that restaurant experience because that place never should have been referred to as a Chinese restaurant and each time someone invite me for lunch/dinner in a Chinese restaurant, the first i will say is—please tell me it is not one along Aminu Kano crescent wuse2. No kidding here!
On the contrary, i was invited to a fantastic Chinese restaurant still in Abuja recently and i was happy to discover that at least i now have a steady Chinese restaurant i can go to and also invite people to eat. It was so cool that they gave a small evaluation card of how the waiter assigned to us behaved. Now, this is the action of an employer who understand what customer service means and all of us who ate at that restaurant that day gave an excellent recommendation of the charming girl who served us pleasantly till we left with genuine smiles all through. Tell me why i should not eat and recommend that particular restaurant to people? Pour quee? Of course i will patronize them with all pleasure and also do some free media stuff for them when i have the opportunity to do so without them even having a clue who is selling them positively to the public. You see? Good customer service !!!
How about door men whose welcome is- Find me something today ma/sir? Ohh..for Christ sake you as an employer …you want to tell me you are not aware that the door man you employed ask money from your clients as they walk in? This is highly unprofessional and damn annoying at the same time. Your doorman/lady is simply killing your business!!
Rude Front desk ladies who prefer to ping/chat while clients line up to wait for attention? Killing your business as well!! What a boommeerrrrrr!!!
Should I continue the list? C’mon folks..hit me up at Twitter-@jacquiworld and let us share on how to salvage our customer service issues. I can also recommend you to a credible Training institute that can bring their professional Training to your staff anywhere you are in Nigeria tailored to your staff needs.
Do not allow your staff kill your business with bad customer service. The little money you spend to train them for few days is nothing compared to what you lose with their bad attitude.
Jaclyn IWU is a life/career/business coach, a stress management expert. Blog:http://bluntjacqui.blogspot. Twitter: @Jacquiworld
