Customer service is DEAD.

"True South"?
Y'all ain't never started no war...

just kiddin'.

Service is a two way street. I grew up in a restaurant since age 10. I saw the worse and the best of it.

Drunks coming off the lake with no shirt not understanding why they can't eat in the nice restaurant all the other customers actually dressed to go to.

Those dressed up folks who think service should be prefect and any little mistake would draw the wrath of the devil down on the college aged server who's just trying to make rent and beer money. But when someone who won't take being cussed out comes around they don't say a damn thing.

Then there's the guy who would come in with is date and try to order stuff that's not even remotely on the menu acting like a big shot and get "tough" when I told him no, repeatedly.

The college hotshot who order loudly "I want a 1981 Robert Mondavi" and looked at me funny while I stood there waiting on what type of wine he wanted and got pissed when told him that's a winery and vintage you haven' told me what grape you'd like.

But on the other side of it, there was the guy who owned a tire store who came out on every Saturday, always asked for the same waitress, ordered the same thing and at Christmas would tip the entire staff $100 each including the bus boys (Late 70's, early 80s so that was something).

There was the guy who owned a national tree service that would book the entire place for their Christmas party.

ALL the other people who enjoyed their meal even though the loud redneck can't shut up going out the door about how bad the place sucked.

It's a two way street, not saying that you've or anyone has done anything to get bad service, once you get bad service, I wouldn't travel down that road again.

 

OH, one more thing.
When I say "Thank You" to a server the answer is not "You're Welcome" (though it is nice to get it), the answer should be "Thank You" cause I could have eaten anywhere.

 

Maybe down there but not everywhere.

 

I use to train the waitstaff that the customer is always right till I tell you otherwise.

 

He was being sarcastic??

 

Like I said, depends on the marketing company you follow. I don't care about generations. I have low expectations from my fellow humans. I am frequently disappointed, and rarely surprised. If I could afford it, I'd be a hermit.

 

He was. I'm not sure if you are right now?

 

Interesting can of worms. The group seemed to focus on the 20 something differential. Not my intent, as I'm occasionally pleasantly surprised. Baseline respect is provided, anything more is earned. I understand it's a two way street. Guests however deserve to be treated like guests, not a burden or an employee. Small details like smartphone preoccupation, teen huddles, and business decisions are probably best left to the experienced. You only have one chance at first impressions. My original post was about a horrible California lunch experience. We were nice and simply shit on. Shit on so badly that eating there would have been unpleasant. Just a sad development. Seems reoccurring, not specific, which prompted the post.

Good discussion though.

 

When you aren’t happy...simply...Blame the other generation!

 

I hate to generalize but I see the generational gap in our church quite a bit. The majority of the folks on our board of directors are either boomers (or older) or millennials. The folks in between tend to spend their time complaining about how things are instead of helping work to improve them.

Also, my wife works in the medical field and her management definitely prioritizes the "customers" (patients) over the recommendations of their staff (i.e. trained medical professionals) and I've seen how demoralizing that is for the employees. We keep saying I should go in and complain about the treatment I got from my wife to see if we can also get some restaurant coupons or whatever they're giving away to disgruntled patients that week.

 

It's part of the plan, and California is the model for the nation.

This is a great discussion, and anyone in the customer service role that has dealt with drunk and obnoxious patrons - much respect.

 

What I don’t understand is pretty much everyone has been in a customer service job at some point. So everyone knows what it’s like being treated like crap just because “they can”. Or trying to get someone fired just because you didn’t get your way. That entitlement crap doesn’t fly with me.

Having been in customer service for years in the past it’s only given me an appreciation for others in the same situation. Thus treating them with respect, not being difficult, etc.

You’re now my favorite person on this forum.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

I'm also convinced customer service is going by the way side in Cali... I've lived in SoCal and now NorCal... I avoid my local grocery store due to the fact that employees would be sprawled out, out on the floor in the middle of the aisles on their phone, or you have to literally either jump over them or walk around the aisle to get to the other side... I've opted to drive 5 miles down the road instead of 2 blocks due to this....

would agree with this as well.... In my late 20s I worked AP in SoCal I got more grief from this group than the younger crowd. Of course there was a trade off getting cussed out was part of my favorite times, because I was successful getting into people's head against company policy, but accomplishing the mission...

 

I don’t even know anymore.

 

I'm retired. I purposely went back to work at a gun range out of boredom. I help the sales guys when I can. I love getting people excited about shooting and solving problems. People open up and say and act out in the most amazing way when things turn for the better. As a retired leo I could sit at home and be an ass...its just not fun or appealing. The catalyst in this situation is when in the roll, I've witnessed an increase in the F U Mom attitude and its seemed to be focused primarily out west. I guess I'm just out of date socially. The shits not that hard.

 

I've visited ranges when I lived in Nevada and Arizona and retired people helping out were my favorite, old enough not to care and young enough not to give an F... but very knowledgeable and were willing to assist in making good choices.. rented all my guns at the sited for the day and usually were well informed on which one to try on said day..

 

Glad to hear the experience was positive. Your spot on with your analogy. Its a good but temporary position to be in...

Old farts rule! Lol

 

As a GenX'er, I feel obligated to post this.

 

X2

 

Big difference from east and west sides of the state for sure.

 

Another thing to consider is maybe they’ve already encountered Karen that day. All it takes is one to ruin the whole rest of your day.

Or they’re unmotivated because minimum wage can’t even buy food nowadays. Which, if I remember, back in the day meant you just worked harder to get out of that dead end job.

 

I'd be upset too if I had to come back to work to earn half of what I was getting paid to sit at home.

 

Well perhaps. A bad experience doesn't give anyone the right to be an ass intentionally all day. Think of the trouble I could have started if I wasn't mature enough to differentiate. Equally, I worked minimum wage. I was living at home and going to college. I was aware it was dead end... That was the motivation to finish school and ladder climb. Had I settled and acted out, I'd likely be miserable and spread it everywhere. Perhaps that's the solution for some of these people. Seems an error in judgement. Maybe they should "clean their rooms" metaphorically before criticizing the world.

Oh well. We went somewhere else.... and are driven to move to a healthier environment than the west coast of 30 years.

I wonder if people are nice outside Tampa? Lol

 

There are some pretty broad brush strokes on this thread.

 

I was gonna use my spray gun at first

 

Well, most people only consider their own world view. On top of that, very few people have a good sense of personal accountability. Nobody wants to face the fact that they’re generally responsible for their own problems. It’s easier to blame someone else than it is to look in the mirror. We consider everyone else an asshole, but don’t stop to think why they’re an asshole. Of course some people like me were just born that way.

 

If all one does is argue with assholes all day, then maybe they are in fact the asshole.

 

As you argue with all us assholes.