Before church this morning we went to a fast food restaurant for breakfast. We placed our orders and the worker proceeded to get our order wrong. I never want to be a jerk about such things because they don’t get paid a lot and they were working on Sunday but when you know you spoke clearly and the order is wrong then you get frustrated. We even tried to clear it up with the front line person and she didn’t understand we ordered one thing, not another. Making a big noisy fuss is not our style but we wanted our order corrected and it wasn’t handled very well.
Customer service is a huge thing and we even filled out a comment card and registered our displeasure with the company. Much of what we experienced is a training issue I think. The one thing I can say is that we were on our way to church and didn’t want to represent our faith in a negative way. So many people of faith can be harsh and we didn’t want to be like that.
So when they say may I take your order you best be clear about it and to be clear as possible.
I have been in a couple of retail environments lately where male retail assistants have called me “bud” because they don’t know my name. Now I know I live in the south and for some it just comes naturally but for some reason when they call me “bud” it irks me. My grandmother called me “bud” on occasion but that’s my grandmother, she could call me whatever she liked, she earned that right. In a retail environment I would rather be called “sir” not that I am snobby but to me it makes sense to address strangers as sir and to be a little more formal. Perhaps it’s a generational as well as a cultural thing but I think the word “bud” is for a buddy or someone you know.
Also I hate the term “big guy”, yes I know I am a larger sized person but that one also makes me cringe. If you know me call me Tony or T-Bird, either is fine but if you don’t know me or any other person, start off with “sir” it’s a matter of respect that will be returned in kind.
I think everyone should say thank you to the people that clean up after us. Drive us around on a bus. Prepare and serve our meals. Help us with our cell phone bill (even when we don’t get our way). The people who are making a living helping us out deserve our thanks everyday.
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