Posted by Perry
Over the past week Shelley and I have eaten at two restaurants where the service didn’t quite meet our expectations. The odd thing about them both was the fact that it wasn’t the front-line staff that made the experience bad – it was the management that dropped the ball.
The first happened at Long John Silvers. We ordered our meal and paid with a large bill due to our equally large order. The cashier took our money and handed it to a rather large supervisor in the back who (with a look of distain) examined it and returned it to her rather rudely. We then asked the cashier if we could get cole slaw instead of the drinks that came with the meals. She replied, “Sure” and proceeded to fill four little containers of slaw. The ‘manager’, upon seeing this, asked her what she was doing and if there was a problem. The clerk told her no, she just needed some slaw instead of drinks. The manager said nothing – just rolled her eyes. We left after getting our order and commented to each other about the fact that the wrong person was in charge there. The cashier handled her customers and the transaction on such a higher level than the manager that it was laughable.
Our next encounter came at a Taco Bell. Again, we had a large order and the cashier was extremely helpful and even recommended some good stuff to us. After we got our food, we checked it out to make sure nothing was amiss – it was. We went back to the counter to tell the shift lead and was met with a rude response. The cashier made our order right – even though as a customer we want them to get it right.
The problem in both of these situations is that management failed miserably to ensure a pleasant customer experience – that was handled both times by the front-line staff. The question here is that when management cannot provide effective customer service, when does an organization take a long look at how they promote their managers? When front-line staff “get it” and supervisors don’t – a company has a major problem on their hands.
Have you evaluated how your management handles customers, and more important, have you evaluated how they set an example for front-line staff in dealing with your customers?
If not – you should be.