Sometimes I Ask Myself….Why do I have to put up with bad service?

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I am sick and tired of making excuses for bad service. I try to come from a place of compassion as I deal with these few bad apples with bad attitudes that have no place in the service industry.

While traveling this week (I’m writing this to you from my new iPad!), I encountered more than one of these bad apples. (Why is it that they mostly work at airports?) I am in the service business (as most of us here are) and I am humbled when I encounter great service.

I find that these rules should apply to everyone in the service industry:

• If you are having a crummy day, you need to work even harder to give good service.
• Always make the customer feel as if he or she is the first of your priorities.
• Good service is about feeling out your clients. Do fliers fresh off a plane seem like they are in the mood to chat? If not, then make sure you process them efficiently so they can move on with their trips. (I know the last thing I feel like doing is talking after a 15 hour flight.)
• Never make your clients feel as if you are doing them a big favor by giving them good service.

Maybe it’s because I am first and foremost in the business of giving good service that I am hurt when I or anyone around me is treated poorly. When I encounter really great service, I sometimes wish I could employ that person on the spot.

Here are some places and business where I have received excellent service. I think these folks deserve my thanks:

• Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur, CA
• Time Warner Cable
• Sylvia Weinstock Cakes
• Indonesia Airlines
• St. Regis Hotel, New York, NY
• Ellen Weldon Stationery Design
• Four Seasons Hotel franchise (especially the one in Beverly Hills)

If you have any places where they have gone the extra mile to give you good service, please list them here and give them some love. If you want to discuss any of the places where you’ve received horrible service recently, I wouldn’t mind hearing about that too.