On the other hand, I have had some truly lovely customer service experiences. I ordered some of the new Studio Calico product line (Homefront–such a cool new line) and, when I received my order, noticed that one of my purchases was slightly short. No big deal but I contacted the company and suggested they contact their manufacturer to make sure that the error was just a fluke. Lorie Baker, of Studio Calico, contacted me the next day, thanked me for my input, sent me a replacement of the shorted product, and also sent an extra goodie. Best customer service I’ve experienced in years! Studio Calico has my loyalty for life. When you consider that this is a recession and survival depends on the good will of the consumer, you would think it would be in the best interest of any company to cultivate a positive relationship with its customers.

Over the last few years, more people have become complacent in their jobs. Even though most states have right to work laws allowing employers to let people go without cause, they still fear doing it unless they have a real cause to fire someone. Poor customer service generally isn’t the reason they will. Although that and attitude should be the reason, usually they want something more concrete.

This certainly isn’t the economic environment people can be complacent. However, in other workplaces, in particular larger stores, unions cover the employees. Now you can’t let someone go without a really good reason. Unions will protect the good and the bad employee and keep them employed. Those situations also foster the “it’s not my job” attitude keeping employees into their little box of “what is in my job description.”

Sadly, in the current US economy, we can expect to see even more of this because people have come to expect that nothing is their fault, it’s always someone else’s fault and someone “owes me.” Go figure.

It sure would be nice to turn the clock back to good work ethics again. To the day when people would be grateful to have a job, any job, and grateful to be working because the alternative meant no food on the table.

I’m not saying that businesses shouldn’t have good customer service. They should. But store owners and managers are often encouraging employees to not be helpful by the amount of work they expect them to have done in a given period of time. If the employee is not helping you because they are chatting with a fellow employee, obviously this is not the case and it is only the employee at fault. But if they are in the middle of unpacking a box full of product and don’t seem eager to spend 20 minutes telling you how to do your project, don’t be surprised. If they don’t finish, they’ll have to explain to their boss why, and helping customers, unfortunately, isn’t going to be a good enough answer.