I’ve been fighting some gnarly laryngitis for a week (much to my chagrin, but to the joy of those around me). As such, I’ve let my coffee habit slide in favor of a healthier option, tea.
I was very excited to keep this streak running, especially because my tea habit was shaping up to be a lot easier on my wallet than my coffee one.
But then I got to the deli around the corner from my office, and was kicked in the proverbial balls.
The Shine Deli, a beacon for mediocre deli fare and mediocre prices, charged me $2.25 for some tea (which is more than their coffee). Why so much? The new owner claimed it was because I got honey in my tea.
Now, I could have let the price-gouging slide if the new owner hadn’t been such a jerk. When I said, hoarsely, “Oh, I’m sorry, I hadn’t realized the prices had gone up,” he just stood there looking at me contemptuously.
(Update: I went to Starbucks the following day instead, and got a LARGE tea, with TWO teabags and all the lemon and honey my heart could handle for only $.08 more. So now I’m also mad that the Shine Deli has be hocking Starbucks…)
Then, in the office, as I sat and drank my overpriced, under-steeped tea, I was reading articles online and I come across this one from Consumerist that harps on the poor customer service at Best Buy (and AMP3 has had our own bad experiences with Best Buy, but I’m not going to get into that now; one story’s enough).
It got me thinking: what happened to our notion of good customer service?
A couple weeks ago, we helped out with the Brooklyn Royalty Fashion show. Aside from the praise the line got, we also got feedback that the staff and PR team at the event were “nice” and “polite” and that people were surprised by how friendly we were.
Why shouldn’t we be friendly? Why can’t someone be nice and do their job?
It’s shocking to me that good manners and some people consider good business practices mutually exclusive; I always thought that one bred the other.
I’m going to go out on a limb and implore you, dear reader, to follow the age old adage: do unto other as you’d have done unto you.
If you don’t, you may have an irate and raspy EX-customer ranting about you on a work blog.
Jackie for AMP3pr.com – Policy: Opinions of Author are not necessarily those of AMP3 PR Agency NYC. Take em with a grain of salt.
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