Family Vacation

As Kelly mentioned, we took a much needed trip to see her family in Michigan.  Along the way we realized that people seemed to be much nicer. Why is that? Why would being farther up north make people nicer? We enjoyed the nice weather, the nice people, and the nice food. It is too bad that the nice experience didn't last very long.  On the way home we stopped into a place to eat. There were & of us at the time.  We all stepped into line and looked over the menu and prepared to order. The woman behind the counter began barking at us saying, "I can help someone here!"

Wow really, we all see you there so give us a second to swallow and then we can talk. We all just looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and then started to order, one by one. She was really pushy and rushed us all.  Kevin, Kelly's brother, was last to oder and he had never eaten at this place before and didn't have the menu memorized. He also didn't know how the process went.  The woman behind the counter kept saying, "I can help you here, I can help you here." I honestly wanted to just tell her to forget it and leave all of the food that we had already ordered sitting there to waste. This was on our way back towards PA, figures!

What do you all think? Have you had this kind of experience? Tell us about it! We hope to hear from you soon.

Michigan Trip

We recently went to Michigan for vacation.  The people were awesome!  When we went into a business, they said hi and talked with us.  They told us to have a good night, even.  The employees at Bob Evans in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan were wonderful!  They even took a picture of our group.  It seemed like the further south we got, though, the ruder people were.  We stopped at a hotel in North Lima, Ohio on the way back.  They were extremely rude to us.  When we walked in to register, the lady at the desk, although she was facing us at the desk, did not even look at us, let alone say anything.  We just stood there and waited for her to do whatever she was doing.  It was not until my son walked in that she asked if she could help.  She asked him, though.  Needless to say, we will never stay there again.  Would it have been so hard to say "One moment.  I'll be right with you."?

Coworkers are Customers Too

Coworkers should be considered customers too.  After all, you work with them everyday.  You probably spend more time with them than your own family.  You can provide good customer service for your coworkers by being a team player.  I know that the team player is overly stressed today.  Being a team player is important, though.  Your coworkers will be more inclined to help you when you need it if you go out of your way to help them.  Because you have to work with them everyday, wouldn't you like to have a good working relationship?  It's a little uncomfortable to work with someone that you don't get along with.  The customers of your business will be better off as well as businesses with a team run smoother.  What do you think?  Tell us your ideas!

No more questions for you!

I seem to have all of the luck in the world when it comes to rude customer service over the phone.  Kelly seems to get the face to face rudeness, but I get it over the phone often.  I called regarding an issue with some sales tax for business reasons.  I talked with a nice lady and told her my issue and she directed me to a website that would help me out. I thanked her and tried the site. There was something that I was missing and wasn't sure how to proceed so I called that same number.  This time I was talking to a man and explained that same situation to him and he gave me another telephone number to call. I asked if the people who I was to call next would be able to help me with the entire process regarding the sales tax.  His response was, " Well, you have to call them and ask them now, won't you?"  As I started to ask another question, he again said that I would have to call the other number and then promptly hung up on me!

What is the issue today with the horrible customer service? Not to mention the horrible phone manners. I didn't even get a good bye, or thanks for calling. Even a simple explanation similar to, "I'm sorry I do not have that information, maybe the people at the next line can assist you better. I mean really, is it that hard?

What do you think? We would love to hear from all of you about your customer service experiences, good or bad.

Aggressive Drivers?!

Although this does not have much to do with customer service, I felt the need to share it with you.  Angie and I both commute to our jobs every day.  She drives about 40 minutes.  I drive an hour.  I just cannot believe what some drivers will do.  I'm really surprised that there are not more crashes.  Maybe they just happen before I get there.  People seem to be in such a hurry to get somewhere.  They weave in an out of traffic, pass on the left, and cut people off.  Many times, I see them down the road at the same intersection with me.  They didn't save much time, but put everybody else's lives at risk.  I think the thing that bothers me the most is the the tailgating.  That is really dangerous!  It especially bothers me when you can't go any faster due to the 25 cars in front of you.  I am guilty of tailgating too once in a while.  That drive is so routine that it's easy to catch yourself doing it.  I'm talking about the people that are so close to your bumper that you can't see their headlights.  What is also just as bad is people who slam on their breaks when they see someone behind them who is tailgating.  What is that supposed to do?  Make it easier for that person to rear end you and cause a crash?  I have seen people use their hazard lights when this happens.  That is a better idea, except people look at you like you're crazy.  I think the best idea is to just move over and let that person go 100 miles per hour.   I have been in quite a few traffic jams due to crashes.  I then see people drive over the median and even back up on the entrance ramp!  We need to have personal planes to take to work.  That might be worse, though!  Has anyone else had these experiences?

Breakfast Game

I just have to tell you about our experience at Dunkin Donuts today.  We went to get some breakfast.  My daugter's boyfriend gave us instructions to order bacon and cheese on a glazed donut.  That's his new concoction.  Of course, the looks on their faces were priceless!  We had the entire crew trying to figure out what we wanted..lol.  They were all awesome!  They were smiling and playing along with the game.  They ended up giving us bacon and cheese separate from the glazed donut so he could put it together.  They even gave us a knife to cut the donut in half.  I was smiling and laughing too.  Way to go Dunkin employees....you rock!

Professionalism vs Intimidation

Today I took my son to take his testing for his driver permit.  I hate going into that place.  I always feel intimidated.  Sometimes, they are just rude.  Why is cracking a smile not allowed?  Anyway, we went in after waiting in a line that extended outside.  At least I got to see the Chinese restaurant that had been closed down for health reasons. Yikes!  After we registered and our number was called, we went up to the desk with our documentation.  Everything that he said seemed like a one word command.  I don't work there for a living.  I don't know what I am supposed to do.  He wasn't really rude just seemed annoyed.  We were probably about the 5000th transaction that he had done that week.  Maybe that's why he seemed so annoyed.  Maybe it isn't that they all think that they are better than everyone else, just that their jobs are that routine.  As we were standing there, I watched the guy next to us treat a couple that spoke broken English really badly.  I really tried to be pleasant, even though I went in there expecting to be treated rudely.  He did crack a smile right before we left.  I almost missed it!

After my daughter took her driving test a little while ago, I asked the examiner that works at the same place why he was so intimidating.  His reply was that he had to be professional and he could not portray the idea that driving was a joke.  I told him that being pleasant is not saying that driving is a joke and that he probably intimidates many of his examinees. I went on to say that he can be professional and still be pleasant. I also told him that they probably all get really nervous and that is why they fail.  I think that there is a joke around town about him. I ended up shaking his hand after our conversation.  I don't think that did any good, though.  Has anyone else had a problem with DMV's?