Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER SIXGET THEM TO CARE ABOUT GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE

Is the customer always right? Really? No! Sometimes they are very wrong and they can be so rude. The customer is just passing through here. I'm here all day.

—Twentysomething

The general manager of a restaurant from a well-known chain recently shared this story with me: “When he first came in for his interview, this kid, let's call him Frank, told me, ‘Oh yeah, I eat here with my parents all the time.’ Usually that's a good thing. If you know what it's like to eat a meal here, you might have an idea of what it's going to be like to work here. As soon as he started working here, Frank's parents started coming in a lot more often, and would often order something for Frank too, even though he was working. They would come in, Frank would take their order, and when his parents' order was up, he'd bring it to their table and sit down to eat with them, sometimes for ten or fifteen minutes. I'd walk by the table, and they'd all smile at me like there was nothing weird about it at all. A few times Frank's mom invited me to sit down with them. She said to me, ‘Isn't Frank just the greatest employee you've ever had? He's so busy with school and everything else. This is the only time we get to catch up with him. We have to pay to see our own son.’ She actually said all that to me with a straight face,” the manager continued.

“I explained to Frank that he couldn't just take a break in the middle of a shift to have dinner with his ...