What is customer service worth to you?

Customer service is important to me. Good food at a restaurant means absolutely nothing to me if it’s served with a scowl.

I know others – like my dad – disagree; he doesn’t care if someone smiles or greets him warmly, just that he gets what he’s there for and can leave as fast as possible. Chris even prefers it if cashiers/waiters don’t say anything to him at all.

But I’m all about the interaction. I’m a sucker for a smile and if someone goes out of their way to satisfy a need of mine, it means a lot to me. I tip generously, and have countless times thanked managers and companies publicly. I try my very best at smiling first and acknowledging servers as people, not servants. Even in the drive-thru, if the person at the speaker asks how I am, I respond and ask back (which almost always seems to surprise them, by the way).

Which is why I’m so affected by bad customer service.

So recently my pal Jo and I started meeting at an undisclosed bagel place once a week, which is a local joint. We decided the location was good, it’s rarely crowded, and the food is delicious. But the manager there, as one Yelper noted, needs to go back to charm school.

At first, it was just little things, which weren’t a huge deal. Like he’d never ask “how are you” or anything like that – he’d just stand there, waiting for us to repeat our order, and that would be after we’d been waiting at the counter for awhile. But we kept coming back.

Then it turned into major server faux pas – like serving Jo her lunch salad (not a side) while I waited 15 minutes for a grilled cheese. Or, like yesterday morning, serving me eggs and potatoes while my 3-year-old son sat waiting for his kids’ French toast. Then, in this particular case, when all of our food was finally served, we noticed a muffin was missing from our order. “Oh. I’ll grab it,” he informs us, as if he’s doing us a favor – forget about any apology for the oversight.

The icing on the cake though was a cup fiasco. I ordered a coffee and a fountain drink, and left my fountain drink cup empty while I drank my coffee. Jo’s son Andrew, who is non-verbal autistic, was enthralled with that tall cup and began trying to grab it and play with it. At one point, it ended up on the floor. So Jo went up to the manager, explained the situation, and asked to replace my cup – but that instead of wasting the one he’d soiled, she’d put some ice in it, since he would only use his hands for that anyway.

But no, I couldn’t have a new cup, he said, unless I paid for it.

And no, I’m not so broke that I can’t afford to pay for some stupid Styrofoam cup. But by now this man had to have recognized us as regulars – and even if he hadn’t, why treat your customers that way in order to save a dime?

In an effort to use my voice instead of slithering away quietly, I called corporate to express my concerns about the situation. I’d planned on visiting this location every week for a long time, but now was thinking of finding a new place to go; I thought that would concern a local company. I left a message with the corporate office, and at 7:30 one night, while I was in the middle of Hanukkah celebrations, a guy called me back in a huff.

This man quite obviously couldn’t care less that I was unhappy. He couldn’t care less that I felt slighted and unnecessary as a customer at his restaurant. He spoke abruptly to me, and made me feel stupid for complaining at all – as if I was some crappy housewife with nothing better to do but file complaints. This man treated me like I meant absolutely nothing to him – I, a weekly patron in an economy where my 20 bucks actually means quite a bit – and my threats of never returning fell on deaf ears. In short, he made me feel like a total jackass.

He’d heard about the ice incident, he said. He agreed with his manager’s decision to charge me for another cup because, “didn’t you just want it for ice?” he retorted. Sure, so we didn’t want to waste it, I said, but the cup was soiled; it’d been on the floor. He seemed to care more about that – because, hello, health codes! – but will he do anything about the manager’s attitudes, or the fact that two loyal customers won’t be returning? Probably not.

Jo and I have since found another place to meet weekly, and being the goofy, outgoing gals we are, we’ll surely make friends in an establishment that appreciates our business.

But why are we even still having to worry about bad customer service these days? What, as consumers, can we do (besides complaining to management, because apparently not even that works) to make the situation better? I have never wanted to sound like a whiner, and in fact resolve to soon write about a really GREAT customer experience soon, as I do get many of those. I just wish there was something more to do.

I expect great service – and in return, I will be a fantastically loyal customer.

What is customer service worth to you?

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