Would you like some unequal treatment with that customer service? - Women's Agenda

Would you like some unequal treatment with that customer service?

Maybe I expect too much. But when I am a paying customer or client, I anticipate good service. Or at the very least civil business to customer relations, even if the actual service provided is poor.

One morning this week I took my car for its first year service. It was like peak hour at the dealership. The queue was long and everyone was in a hurry. Some of the customers were a little agitated by the wait and were understandably looking less than thrilled at the prospect of being late for work. However, for the half hour that I waited patiently to be served, the customers were generally pleasant to the counter staff, keeping their frustrations to themselves. So I was surprised with the attitude being dished out to some customers when I finally reached the counter.

The female customer at the head of the line to my left was being patronised. The male customer to my right was being addressed as ‘sir’. From the outset the man who served me spoke to me as though I was a child. The person who had taken my phone booking for the car service had completely messed up my name, and apparently that was my fault. They had also neglected to add my address to the booking sheet and that had clearly ruined the day for the service guy before me. He moaned and groaned. He rolled his eyes.

I looked across to the woman on my left. The guy serving her had started barking at her. She was trying to negotiate a pickup time that suited her need to collect her children from school and was being told that they would tell her when it would be available. They couldn’t be rushed.

Meanwhile the guy to my right was being treated like royalty. “Yes sir”, “no sir”, “whatever suits you sir”.

I had booked a loan car for the day and was given the look of death when I pointed that out.

When I later relayed the story to a friend I was asked if I had informed the guy behind the counter that I was a CEO. The suggestion being of course that if he knew what I did for a living he may have treated me with more respect. My job title should be irrelevant in that equation. To have played that card would have perpetuated the vicious cycle of inequality. And how might I have reacted if I had indeed shown him my business card and he then changed his tune? I would have undoubtedly and instinctively started tearing shreds off him.

I didn’t show my professional hand because it is my expectation that I should be treated with respect because I am a customer who was about to part with a significant sum of money for the service. Instead I informed the bad-mannered attendee that his company brand was being destroyed due to his poor customer service skills. I delivered the line with controlled elegance. It stopped him in his tracks. He looked up at me with a face filled with horror. He didn’t apologise but was quiet and polite for the remainder of the transaction.

Later that day when I returned to collect my car, he was again the man on counter duty to serve me. He’d either had a very good day or my words were still ringing in his ears because he was behaving with vastly improved customer service skills. I was treated with the level of respect that every customer should be, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity or job title.

Is that really too much go ask?

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