Poor Customer Service

On average, of course excluding certain companies and people, customer service is on the decline.  Stop for one minute to think of all the times a waiter was rude, or someone at the store was less than helpful or a salesperson couldn't care less what you were even saying.  Now think of all the times something went wrong due to incompetence. Some companies do apparently take notice but only after things get so bad.  My doctor's office was the epicenter of poor customer service.  I never expected something to be done right and unfortunately nothing ever was.  However, my last two visits to the office have been like a visit to a different planet.  The employees there are like the women of the "Stepford Wives."  They are extraordinarily polite - to the point where is is scary.  They jump to sign you in or tell you when it's your turn, etc... While it should have never gotten to this situation, one must wonder, what causes such poor customer service?

There are countless reasons:
1.  Automation
When people are replaced with automated systems where you have to enter a series of 1's and 3's on your phone, you can not expect the same results as when you speak with a person.

2. Outsourcing
I have usually found outsourced phone operators to be very polite, but usually lacking in solving my problem in a time efficient manner.  They sound as if they have memorized a script, which of course they have, and for the most part act like robots.  While this is more than adequate customer service for a basic inquiry for a problem or issue, it often falls short.  I would be curious to learn how companies/call centers segment and route their calls.

3. Rudeness
It seems to me more and more people are just plain rude.  It's hard to say if they just don't like their job, are resentful or are naturally like that.  What's also at fault is a bad cycle, where employees are treated poorly at work (by their boss, co-workers, or customers) and therefore have no reason to treat other people well.  Sometimes there is no good explanation - just take a visit to Yelp to read about countless waiter/waitress horror stories.  This is doubly concerning as they should be operating on tips, which brings me to my next point.

4. Compensation
The days of people making a long term career of a job are in decline.  Many people will have countless jobs and different roles over their careers.  If someone's long term success is not really tied to this role, their attitude and performance is not as important.  For many people, their compensation is fixed, there is not incentive to provide good let alone superior service.

5. Lack of Pride in Work
CBS's new program "Undercover Boss" is about CEOs of huge companies who go undercover to work with people at the "lowest level" of their company.  For example, the CEO of Waste Management, worked with someone who cleans toilets all day.  Despite having an unglamorous role, this employee took pride in what he did and approached work with a great attitude.  Unfortunately, he is not the norm.  When people lose pride in their work can we really expect them to provide a good level of service.  One unscientific example:  while travelling in the Japan Subway system heading above ground, I saw a cleaning lady working extremely hard to make sure that the staircase handle was spotless.  That did not surprise me that much having been there already for a few days, but the look on her face did.  She seemed to take pride in her work.  I witnessed a similar example with gardeners in a nearby park.  I would like to contrast this with an incident of a NYC subway booth operating practically yelling at tourists who had done nothing wrong.  Not an apples, to apples comparison, but something to consider.

6. Competence
The saying that "it's hard to find good people" is as trues as it ever was, despite the recession.  Education is an important factor for competence, and although the U.S. leads the world in world class universities, our pre-university education is lacking.  Furthermore, many companies also do not have proper training methods in place to insure employees even know what they are doing.  People lack responsibility - manager's do not properly take responsibility for their employees and employees who are at fault are quick not to accept blame.

7. Cost Cutting
Finally, even if none of the above are factors, just the notion of the constant cost cutting and increased workload for many employees is bound to have an effect.  If someone is overworked, underpaid and overstressed, they will not provide the best service, it's just not possible.

What is considered good customer service?  Ritz Carlton is often considered the pinnacle of customer service.  While unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to stay at the Ritz Carlton, I did attend a lecture by an executive who was in charge of training employees how to provide superior service.  I will save this analysis for another time, because this post was about diagnosing the problem.