TI am getting old, well let’s face it, I am old. They say that at a certain point in your life, you can’t remember what you had for breakfast, but you can remember things that happened when you were thirteen years old. Well I can remember when customer service was something that must businesses prided themselves as providing.

Today, customer service is an anomaly, my pet peeve is going into a department store, you know; K-Mart, Target, et al and to stand in a long line of customers waiting to check out. I look around and see eight to twelve cash registers not being attended, front end managers walking around not noticing the long lines, and cashiers that can’t make change without the aid of the computerized cash register.

Many years ago, in the good-old-days, I applied for a part time (Christmas) job with one of those large department store chains. Before allowed on the sales floor all of us had to undergo training on each style cash register the store owned, we were trained in the correct way to process both credit plans; the revolving type and single purchase type. Once on the floor the department manager and the senior (or assistance department manager) took the time to train us in the particular of the department. (I was taught how to measure a men’s suit and mark it for alteration – I was even taught to measure for customer made suits).

In those days there was room to walk around the store without knocking over a rack of clothing, and each department had one or more attendants and their own cash register. The goal was to help the customer made a selection and to show the customer complimentary items. We didn’t have computer register, so we had to make change without an adding machine or computer. We could, and were expected to work with two or more customer simultaneously. Contrast that with today.

Over the New Year Holiday period I had to opportunity to see a live performance by the Queen of comedy, Ms. Rita Rudner. One route, I would like to share without. Ms Rudner starts by saying that she went into a small coffee/luncheon shop and asked for a cup of coffee, the attendant gave her a paper cup and told her to help herself the coffee was right over there. Next Ms. Rudner asks for a tuna salad sandwich. Again the attendance pointed to the vending machine area and said, ‘help yourself the machines are right over there. As she approached the check out station, she noticed a jar with some money in it (the tips jar) so, she helped herself to three dollars.

This route of Ms Rudner’s, I believe sums up the whole customer service attitude today, is it any wonder customers have no loyalty.

ISO 9001:2000 stresses the importance of customer satisfaction; knowing it, measuring, it and improving it. Whether you are ISO 9001 certified or not you should be measuring, monitoring, and improving you customer satisfaction index. For help, contact us.