Do you wish you could obtain great customer service all the time? Before you answer that question, think about it carefully. What are you willing to do to obtain great customer service? What is it worth to you? A lot? Not much? Are you saying, “Wait a minute. Why should I have to do anything to receive great customer service?” If you are asking this question, you may need to step back and examine your own behavior and your own outlook. Ask yourself why you aren’t willing to do anything to get what you want. It may be that the reason you aren’t willing to do anything to get what you want is because your view of the situation is this:  you view the customer service experience as someone else’s deal. It’s the other person’s job to provide me with great customer service! The end.

Have you ever stopped to think about how this sounds? It sounds a little like this to me:  “I, the almighty customer, deserve to have WHAT I want WHEN I want it and HOW I want it. Serve me!”

If, after examining your thought process, you discover that the above statement falls in line with your belief system, chances are you will not have very many good experiences with customer service. You will continue to go through your life upset and angry because “that waiter was slow,” or “that customer service rep was horrible on the phone,” or “that shoe sales woman was rude and inept.”

One reason you will continue to have bad experiences is because of the junk you are projecting. C’mon. You have to admit that the “serve me…I deserve it” way of thinking is far from humble. Kindness and humility when authentic, draws people to you. We all know people who are negative and brash, and some people, including myself, ignore these people and do what I can to not have to be in their presence.  I would rather not have to be around a negative and whiny person. I would much rather surround myself with people who are chill and are able to “go with the flow.” Negative energy puts negative energy into the atmosphere creating more negativity.

Think about this. Have you ever bothered to ask your server at a restaurant how their day has been? Have you ever bothered to notice how busy the restaurant is and say something like, “Wow! Looks like you’ve got your hands full this evening. Are people treating you okay tonight?” If you have never done this, I highly recommend it.

I work as a trainer/help desk technician for a law firm. Things always go more smoothly when the person who calls me for help doesn’t treat me with disrespect when they call me for help. I will say, most of the people who call me are kind and patient. However, there are times when I see a person’s name come up on my phone and I think, “Ugh. It’s Debbie Downer,” or “Damn. It’s Negative Nancy.” Although I do answer the call because it’s my job, it starts the whole transaction off on a negative path. On the other hand, if I see the name of one of the many pleasant people I’ve helped in the past, I don’t dread their calls.

I work with lots of smart people. But sometimes they don’t behave in smart ways. For example, if I’ve ordered food at a restaurant, and I’ve requested “no mayonnaise” on my club sandwich, and the waiter arrives with a club sandwich with mayonnaise, I have some choices to make. If I’m Negative Nancy, I will probably bitch and complain to the idiot waiter because, God forbid, a mistake was made. How dare they put mayonnaise on my sandwich! Don’t they know who I am? Behaving this way is a complete waste of my energy. There is no good reason to act in this manner. And if your waiter is having a bad day and is also a Negative Nancy, he or she might just want to cough on your sandwich because you are unkind. Again, being rude is just not smart. Are you smart? Do whatever you can to NOT be rude.

As weird as you may think this sounds, I believe there is much truth to it. Hang with me here. It is rare that I have poor customer service. My orders are usually correct. Are you amazed? I hear from people occasionally who claim they always have slow service or they don’t have good luck at restaurants. Have you ever heard of “the law of attraction?” In a nutshell, the law of attraction is the Universe doing its best to give you what it thinks you want. For Negative Nancy, the Universe thinks she wants to be able to bitch and complain about poor service and being mistreated. Therefore, it gives her what it thinks she wants: poor service. This way Negative Nancy can maintain her identity of negativity and she doesn’t have to get out of her comfort zone and do any changing. Think about it. At times, it’s easy and sort of “team building” to be negative about something. I didn’t say it was GOOD team building, but it is an activity that can draw people together against a perceived enemy.

Next time you have to call your IT Help Desk, try this. And it must be genuine. It can’t be fake. Say, “Hi _____________ (whatever the technician’s name is), it’s ____________ (whatever your name is). How’s it going today? You guys slammed?”

Once the technicians answers the question, go ahead with the reason for your call. You might say, “I am having trouble with my document, and I was hoping you might be able to help me,” (or whatever your technical issue happens to be.)

We don’t all see things eye to eye political, religiously, or in many other areas. But we are all part of the same race: the human race. And we are all fighting some type of battle. You will be amazed at what a short pause and an authentic demonstration of care towards another person will do for a situation.

I’d love to hear some of your comments on this post. Cheers.