Elizabeth Davies thinks a bad experience at a local eatery is indicative of a widespread decline in service standards

By Elizabeth Davies

In Auckland the art of customer service is slowly dying, but the question is - is it suicide, or are the customers themselves committing the murder?

At the heart of all customer service lies one key motivation, the extremely desirable and often elusive ‘regular’.

The basic premise isn’t difficult to grasp, provide good customer service and people will come back, provide bad service and not only will people not come back but in true Kiwi fashion they will write scathing reviews and Facebook posts as well as tell inflammatory stories, crucifying a business’s heart and soul – it’s reputation.

The horror stories of their negative experiences would lead you to believe they were bound and gagged in a basement and poked with sharp sticks, rather than served a sub-par coffee in their local Ponsonby café.

All too often good service is met with silence and bad service is met with a megaphone.

Anyone who has trained and worked in a customer service role, be it retail or perhaps more relevantly hospitality can tell you that is all about building relationships. Think of it as a form of speed dating. You have a matter of minutes to make a good first impression, build a rapport and formulate a plan.

Customer service is about giving someone a positive experience, in effect, you have to earn your second date.

My partner Mike and I popped into our local for a burger on Sunday and left with a bad taste in our mouths, the service was just plain bad. Mike made the remark that being a customer used to genuinely mean something.

Yes you pay a fee and receive something in return. But now it seems like businesses aren’t too concerned with the quality of your experience, perhaps with the mentality that in a growing city there is always another customer, so why worry about the individual.

Make no mistake, your product or service most certainly will not sell itself because unfortunately in most cases two doors down will sell the exact same thing… with a smile.

In no way am I implying that bad customer service means a bad person, but I would argue that customer service training has perhaps fallen down the priority list.

However it’s not always the businesses that are to blame for bad service, sometimes it’s the customers themselves.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier articles it seems to me like respect is measured in dollar increments. Customer service staff earn very little and in return are given very little respect.

If someone clicked their fingers to get your attention, failed to say please or thank you, or even make eye contact, made snide comments about your supposed inability to do your menial job and verbally abused you for something that is in no way you fault, hell, you would want to spit in their food too.

Retail assistants, waiters, taxi drivers, telephone fund-raisers and all forms of customer service workers bare the brunt of your bad day, all with an aching face from a forced smile. They or should I say we, are easy targets, because we are paid to accept your criticism and apologise. Remember, the customer is always right, even when they’re wrong.

Good customer service relies on a relationship based on respect. I recently passed a downtown shop with some wise words on the matter. Proudly displayed in their window was a sign that says it all: “Service depends on my mood and your attitude.”

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*Elizabeth Davies is a 23 year old post graduate journalism student at Auckland University of Technology. She lives with her partner in Epsom and spends her free time refurbishing vintage furniture and attempting to bake while fighting a daily battle against her bank balance. She writes a weekly article for interest.co.nz on money matters and financial struggles from a young person's perspective.