Doug Kanter wrote:
In supermarkets, I guess it depends on how you define "customer service".
If the person stocking shelves tells you where to find something, is that
customer service? Or, do you define it as a cut above: If you go to the
cheese department (which may or may not exist in your store), and tell the
person that in your mind, you have a recipe halfway dreamt up, can they
give you some cheese flavor advice to help you complete the recipe?
I don't go to grocery stores that have high enough prices to pay someone
with that skill set to spend 90% of their day stocking the cheese department
display, and run a slicer while waiting for that one customer who actually
has a real question to come along. Most of my grocery shopping is done at
stores that operate efficiently, and provide a pleasant environment for me
to make my buying decisions in.
There just happens to be a couple of horticultural degree holders biding
their time at the local Home Depot. They'll be out of there for a non-retail
job just as soon as they can be. Ask them a question about plants, and
you're likely to get a better answer than you will from the gardening
hobbyists or grunt labor running around the local nursery.
The problem, as others have pointed out, is that we have a culture that
frowns on people saying they don't know. And it starts early in school. Sit
around an elementary school classroom, and you'll never see a teacher praise
a student for admitting that they don't know something, but you'll see them
go nuts with praise when a kid guesses right.
Most standardized tests also reward guessing, too. There's a whole industry
built around test preparation, and how to guess the right answer when you
don't know.
Go to a job interview, and say "I don't know". See if you get the job, or if
the guy who slung the best sounding BS gets the job.
And it's even more important for a guy to learn how to pretend he knows
things he doesn't. Turn on ESPN2 in a room full of men, and the alpha males
will start discussing the game even if they have no idea what the game is.
Comedians convince us every day that guys aren't supposed to stop and ask
directions. Real men should have an answer to everything, no matter how
absurd it is to fake it.
How many of us have had a close friend or family member fall over in shock
when we said, "I don't know" (and didn't really mean "I don't care")? "I'm
going to mark this day on the calendar!"
I don't know if this is a part of other cultures. I only know that as I was
growing up, not knowing something was the ultimate failure. I was taught
never to admit I didn't know anything, and to do my best to fake it when I
had to. And this wasn't something that was only taught at home. It was the
message every teacher and role model gave.
It's hard enough to admit you don't know something to a friend or family
member. So is it really so surprising that someone is afraid to say "I don't
know" to a stranger? Is someone making retail sales floor wages going to go
out on a limb, and risk their self-esteem for some guy walking up and
testing them? "Heck, the guy asking doesn't know, so all I have to do is
guess better than he can. I don't have to admit that I'm as clueless as he
is."
Then again, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know.
--
Warren H.
==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
What's on TV? See the new fall network schedules online:
http://www.holzemville.com/television/fall2005.html