Blood Jester said:
I don't know where you work, but you are cracking me up with these assertions.
I work for a network design and management company.
By your definitions, it is our job to make a working network, and to troubleshoot failures.
But not to make the customers happy.
If you are going to respond to my posts, please read them for my intent of words rather than misconstruing my point in an attempt to make me look silly. I've already spoken in this thread that pleasing the customer is
necessary for return business. I shouldn't have to repeat it time and time again.
Having said that, I truly believe that there are multiple kinds of people out there. I still do not believe that making customers "happy" is part of the job. It is part of being a company-concerned employee, and it certainly can contributes to one's length of employment. But, let's be honest.
When I drive up to McDonalds, I don't really care if the person made me smile or not. It's nice, but I'm mostly concerned about the food being appropriately cooked and my order filled accurately. If they make me smile and apreciate life in the process, that's gravy.
If I go into Lowe's or Home Depot and want to buy something for home improvement, my top concern is that the person who helps me out is competant and can do their job appropriately. I dont want them to get me to spend more money than I actually need, but I also want them to anticipate my needs and help me to the best of their ability. If I enjoy my time with them, that's pure gravy.
To use you as an example, if I were to hire your company to make a network ... my primary concern is that you make the best one for the money I give you and in a timely manner. If you make me smile, that is gravy. But if you are the best customer service rep you can be but do crappy networking work, I'll be less likely to come back to your business than if you do stellar work and crappy public relations.
In all these cases, if they go out of their way to irritate me, I'll talk with their boss. But I have never claimed that a customer service rep who is "intentionally irritating people" are doing their job. That's just silly.
In any job, I as a customer am far more concerned with competance than "chipperness." I've worked with customer service reps who were very friendly but had nothing upstairs. They didn't last very long. I've worked with customer service reps who were brilliant, got results, but we just ornary people. Those people usually last longer than the ones with nothing upstairs, but they got promoted off the customer service line to keep their brains around and get them out of the public's way. Then, I've worked with people who do both reasonably well. These are the kind of people that you want working customer service.
Same thing here. The problem isn't the customer service rep. The problem is the policy. If the guy smiled and spoke in a warm loving voice, "No sir, we cannot copy that," the person is still going to be irritated. And that is the heart of this issue.
I have learned something about people through life in general. Everyone laughs now because everything you buy has warning labels on it. Ever laugh at the fact that your Wal-mart bag has "Warning: Choking Hazard" printed right on it? Ever laugh when you get a cup of coffee and you look down and usually in multiple places there is a warning to the effect of "Warning: Contents could be hot and burn your skin." The reason that these warnings are there is because there are idiots out there who will look for any loophole to sue and make easy money. I can't blame any company for taking the law seriously. If they don't, they might just find themselves at the hands of an idiot sawsuit!
Specifically for the printing business, I think it would be very easy for a company like Staples and Kinkos to be in the middle of a legitimate lawsuit, not even an "idiot lawsuit." But I maintain that the solution is simple. Find out the stores policies and meet them. It isn't really that hard.