25 June 2009

How NOT to do customer service, handy hints for cafe owners

| acaciaelata
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Canberra-ites – are YOU interested in opening a cafe? Try this quick quiz to see whether or not your customer service skills meet the high quality we’ve come to expect in our fine capital.

Here is a hypothetical scenario. Read it carefully and then answer the questions below.

    Imagine that it is a typical cloudy, cold winter’s day in Canberra. But there is a break in the clouds and the sun is shining. A customer comes into your southside café in an organicy kind of shopping village, orders a coffee and advises you that he will sit outside on the sunny balcony that you mention on your blackboard. Much time later, say, half an hour, a shopkeeper from a neighbouring organic greengrocers comes in and advises you that he has had a phone call from the customer who is locked outside on the balcony and can’t call you, because your phone number is incorrectly listed with directory assistance, and could you please let them in.

Q1. When the customer came to the counter to order their coffee should you have:

    A. Taken their money and forgotten about them.

    B. Prepared a lovely cup of fair trade, organic coffee and served it to them promptly.

Q2. When the customer advised you that your door is locked from the outside should you have:

    A. Said: ‘Oh, well we didn’t expect anyone to go outside today‘.

    B. Apologised profusely and assure the customer that you will ensure that from now on the door unlocks from the outside.

Q3. If you answered A, and the customer then says ‘I told you I was going outside, and anyway, whether you EXPECT people to go outside or not, if you have a sign saying there is a sunny balcony, and it’s sunny, you can be sure someone will go outside so how’s about you make sure people can get back in once they’ve gone out‘ do you:

    A: Say ‘Well, did you leave the door OPEN when you went out?‘.

    B: Apologise profusely and assure the customer that you will ensure that from now on the door unlocks from the outside.

Q4. If you answered A, and the customer then says ‘The door was closed, so I closed it behind me when I went out‘ do you:

    A: Say: ‘Well it falls closed sometimes?

    B: Apologise profusely and assure the customer that you will ensure that from now on the door unlocks from the outside, or failing that, ensure the door doesn’t fall closed.

Q5. When the customer advises you that he had to call a neighbouring shop because your phone number is incorrectly listed with Directory Assistance do you:

    A: Say ‘Yeah, they misprinted it‘.

    B: Apologise profusely and undertake to phone Directory Assistance and ask them to change their electronic listing NOW.

Q6. When the customer becomes frustrated by your unwillingness to address any of the deficiencies they have just notified you of and asks for their $3.30 back and says they won’t return to your café do you:

    A: Grumble to the other customers and staff that some people are never satisfied.

    B: Apologise profusely and give the customer a free cup of coffee and a voucher for a free lunch next time.

If you answered A to any of the above: You have failed the test and will need to re-sit your Customer Service 101 class.

If you answered B to all of the above: Congratulations, your business is bound to be a success.

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Good rant, it always baffles me to see an employee get defensive when they’re the one in the wrong.

Those with a good knowledge of the inner south have accurately identified the cafe. I didn’t name it as I figured I’d given enough information so the cafe knew who they were. Maybe they were having a bad day and were caught unawares when I advised them of the problems.

G-fresh #31 is way off the mark – it’s not a service issue. As gardeninggirl #44 said, it’s a safety issue. The only way on and off the balcony is through the door, which was locked on the outside but not the inside. The balcony is approximately 3 metres off the ground, so jumping off would be dangerous.

The balcony faces a carpark and on said day only a few people, in the distance, were around. Yes, I could have yelled to get their attention if I didn’t have a mobile phone with me, but I could have been waiting a while.

What if I was elderly, or had a young child? What if it had started raining – how long would I have had to stand in the rain waiting for someone to hear me calling!? What if there WAS an emergency?

How hard is it to put a brick against the door so it doesn’t fall closed? If they know the door *sometimes falls closed* – why haven’t they already done something about it?

If a customer told me that they had been trapped outside for over half an hour and my phone number at directory assistance was wrong I would have been very concerned and solicitous and assured them that they would be the last customer to experience that problem.

Then I would have got a brick and propped the door open. Or made sure it was unlocked from the outside and posted a sign for staff to remind them to always check that from now on. Then got onto directory assistance immediately and insisted they change my electronic directory listing.

Oh – and btw. I worked in hospitality for many a year. It’s why I tip generously, acknowledge the staff and say thank you.

Someone needs to open ‘Cafe Rude’ so at least you know what you’re in for. There’s a legendary Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, London where, if the staff aren’t rude to you, you feel like you’ve missed out. If you’re ever there it’s called Wong-Kei (no, I’m not kidding).

Jim Jones said :

G-Fresh said :

Maybe you all need to adjust your expectations. Like it or lump it. If every other place is so good, why not piss off elsewhere!

These hospitality people are a product of their environment, which includes their customers who are sometimes nice and sometimes ignorant sticklers.

So what you’re saying is that, if you get poor service, its your own fault?

I don’t think thats what is being said.

Look at this site for example. On most days there will be a post about the crap service that someone has received somewhere. We all then get together and slag off the customer service in Canberra.

Do we ever sit back and wonder why hospitality can’t get good staff? Why would you want to work in it when you never get any thanks and the poor service by someone else means that you are also branded with the same shit stick. We do the same thing to the police – if one is an asshole, we call them all assholes.

Sometimes in hospitality you will go out of your way to help people, beyond the call of duty, to receive not even the common coutesy of a thank you. You thank people for cooking at home, or at a friends house – why is it so hard to utter the word when you go out.

There aren’t many jobs where you go to work each day expecting to be abused for something that may not have been your fault. In my previous hospitality jobs I have been sworn at, been spat on and been physically assaulted. Pretty sure that when you make a mistake in the Public Service, someone doesn’t come down to your cubicle and shout and swear at you – then post your name on a website.

I continue to work in hospitality because each day I hope to get that one customer who gives thanks back. Wouldn’t it be nice if tomorrow I went to work and the number increased to two.

G-Fresh said :

Maybe you all need to adjust your expectations. Like it or lump it. If every other place is so good, why not piss off elsewhere!

These hospitality people are a product of their environment, which includes their customers who are sometimes nice and sometimes ignorant sticklers.

So what you’re saying is that, if you get poor service, its your own fault?

Clown Killer said :

Forgive me if I’m wrong (but I’m not), but isn’t the aim of any business to meet or exceed the expectations of you target customers?

You’re wrong.

Businesses have all kind of aims. Most (but not all) aim to turn a profit.

Many (probably not even most) do that by aiming to meet or exceed their target customers expectations.

Many do not. Eg airlines, computer consulting firms, Connex, travel agents. Sometimes the customer’s expectation is out of line with price or the nature of the business; sometimes the market is not competitive enough to require high customer satisfaction.

Whether a particular business is aware of what business model they are implementing is another question. I suspect that many cafes assume their staff are doing good (or adequate) service, when they are not.

OTOH many businesses work by lowering customer expectations by not meeting them but competing on price, enabling the business to make a profit delivering the service it can afford to at the price the customer will pay. Others work by meeting certain expectations, and ignoring others.

The customer is not always right; if you want to be treated as though you are, be prepared to search, and pay, for the privilege. Or start your won fiefdom.

If you want good service to prevail, reward good service, let them know, and vote with your feet.

There are plenty of times where I would choose good food with a nice environment but crap service, over excellent service without the other factors. And if I do, there’s no point whingeing about the poor service — you just have to be entertained by it.

Maybe you all need to adjust your expectations. Like it or lump it. If every other place is so good, why not piss off elsewhere!

These hospitality people are a product of their environment, which includes their customers who are sometimes nice and sometimes ignorant sticklers.

Clown Killer said :

The theory of the customer is always right is a load of rubbish, the customer is right in about 10% of cases. If you run your business to cater for the needs and illusions of every different person you will go broke pretty quickly from giving out free coffee

And so you should. Forgive me if I’m wrong (but I’m not), but isn’t the aim of any business to meet or exceed the expectations of you target customers?

I think this is the case everywhere else … but not in Canberra (where the service motto seems to be ‘the customer is usually wrong, and deserves to be treated at such’, OR ‘Don’t expect anything of me; I’m only doing this job until I can join the public service’!).

Ahhhh, just tell us already!! I’m not here for a quiz on Canberra cafe locations.

Ivan76 said :

Name the cafe please so we can actually benefit from this post.

Shhh: It’s called Cafe Godwin

Clown Killer1:16 am 26 Jun 09

The theory of the customer is always right is a load of rubbish, the customer is right in about 10% of cases. If you run your business to cater for the needs and illusions of every different person you will go broke pretty quickly from giving out free coffee

And so you should. Forgive me if I’m wrong (but I’m not), but isn’t the aim of any business to meet or exceed the expectations of you target customers?

Refer post #13. I think my work here is done.

They probably would have told the customer to stop complaining, as they could always jump in case of fire.

GardeningGirl12:03 am 26 Jun 09

If the business knew its listing was wrong what had they done to fix it if anything? I cannot understand businesses that are so casual about contact details (also thinking of a local outlet for a certain product which is listed on the manufacturer’s website under NSW and when I’ve drawn it to their attention over a few years they just shrug).
There are ways of locking doors at the end of the day which won’t accidently engage during business hours. Indeed I’m wondering if the cafe breached some kind of fire regulations by not having a proper exit from the balcony?

A is a pretty reasonable answer for all questions except question 1, a sorry might have gone well infront of Question 2.

Do you expect the staff to go and change the entry in the yellow pages for your convenience? Immediately fix a door that locks on the outside there and then on the spot? Sorry, but if you’re an idiot, you will normally get treated like one.

The theory of the customer is always right is a load of rubbish, the customer is right in about 10% of cases. If you run your business to cater for the needs and illusions of every different person you will go broke pretty quickly from giving out free coffee. I would suggest that putting an idiot proof lock on the inside would be the best course of action for this cafe.

Name the cafe please so we can actually benefit from this post.

These guys are just trying to do their thing, earning a buck or two in the daily grind.
Sometimes they work up a bit of steam, but overall the hospitality is not as bad as is being laid out here.
It’s a shame you guys have had such a draining experience but I digress: Where are the stories of good service? Yarralumla Pide House is magnificent for one.

Young guy (late teens/early 20s) medium to bigger build, short (curly, I think) hair.

Woody Mann-Caruso7:24 pm 25 Jun 09

What did he look like, Dazzlar?

so write to their head office and maybe something will get done about it. useless hospitality staff in Australia.

Must be something in the water! I got crap service from Coffee Guru at Tuggeranong today. (The one near Good Guys not on Anketell St!)
I asked for boiling water to top up my son’s bottle and got a big lecture from the “boy” serving me. How it was against the rules to pass it directly to me because they were at risk etc. He told me to go around the side, I assumed to where you pick up the coffees etc, when I got there he barked at me to no! go to the staff entrance area. He then basically slammed it down on the table of another customer and just turned. I said to him that he didn’t have to speak to me that way and he said, and I quote, “I do and I’ll speak to you anyway I like”!
Ya know, I have worked with many, many customers over the last 17 years in extremely stressful situations and I have NEVER spoken to anyone like that. I just felt like a piece of crap. If he had said to me that he had to take it to the table due to OH&S rules I would have said no problems but his whole attitude was soooo condescending.
Epic fail Coffee Guru Epic Fail.

Woody Mann-Caruso2:49 pm 25 Jun 09

A+++++ awesome rant would read again

This post has made my day

The Brad said :

Unless it involves quoting Lovecraft or Lewis Carroll. (ok, skating back onto thicker ice now)

chuckle.

And yeah, Clown Killer at post 13 nailed teh attitude perfectly. “We think we work hard and we have a business so how dare you say judgemental things about us”.

G-Fresh said :

omg get over it acaciaelata

Customers are not always right, they are usually wrong.

Clownkiller – you totally called it @#13.

CanbInt, please don’t go kicking off a “best” thread from a comment. Stick to the topic under discussion.

Unless it involves quoting Lovecraft or Lewis Carroll. (ok, skating back onto thicker ice now)

omg get over it acaciaelata

Service can always be improved no matter how good it is.

Sometimes the service isn’t what brings people back. Remember The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld? Poor service there, but a good product.

Customers are not always right, they are usually wrong.

I have to agree that the level of service in Canberra can be improved. There is a restaurant somewhere in Kingston that I’ll never visit again.

I’ve worked briefly in cafes and a restaurant before and there’s a mix of good/bad management, good/bad staff, good/bad customers so it’s all down to your luck if you walked into one that’s bad. In my experience, pulling the manager or owner aside to tell them what the staff did wrong fairs better than yelling and ranting like a lunatic in front of others about their bad service.

these cafes are businesses not charities if you don’t like it don’t shop there simple.

TheScientist11:32 am 25 Jun 09

“B” answer result should have a subclause:

if you have to do this for every customer you have, then you’ll probably bankrupt yourself very quickly

Great post! As a former Melbournite, I am still always shocked by the level of service in this town. Half the time I feel as waiters etc.. begrudge my even being there, as my requirement for their service actually causes work for them.

I think the best case of poor service witnessed by moi was a cafe place at Brindabella Park (can’t remember the name) where the serving lady literally snarled at me when I placed my order. In response to her overt rudeness, I very nicely/empathetically said ‘Are you having a rough day’ and she responded with ‘What do you think?’. Lovely. She then proceeded to slam my plate down on the table while she grunted at me again. Never been back.

I saw a cooked duck once….

FC said :

As Sepi said.
Griffith

Er, sorry. Reading, I fail at it 🙁

I walked more than a mile in hospitality shoes, 12+ hour straight shifts, 14-16hr splits, at the end of my career, I was working +50 hour weeks for $38k in the hand (that is after tax, not tax free) a year…Pretty paltry…

yeah I was turning into a bit of a highly strung monster, who wouldn’t with that kind of conditions, and those who know me now, know that this is poles apart from who I really am.

Insteads of playing poor me and blaming my customers for giving me a job – I changed careers.

i can now cook up a killer storm, still have uniforms for special home dinner parties catered by a “Professional Chef” – I smile a lot more and mostly, the business I was working for did not suffer as a result of me “trying to hang in”….

I may consider changing back to hospitality when we move to Melbourne, but there is no incentives/market for chefs in Canberra….Too much work (See any Saturday Canberra times for ANY trade) and too little pay…

I may not have chosen the route of easiest resistance, but at the end of the day I was never going to retire a chef, so it was important to get a new skillset whilst I was not greying.

I was hoping that any lasting economic downturn and its associated threat of incompetent service staff firing would result in the wait staff recognising they aren’t just there to balance a till.

FC said :

sepi said :

I had an ordinary meal at Axis and very ordinary service – they bumped my chair every single time they moved past to the table behind – which was continual. And the place was mostly empty, so whey seat everyone in one tight corner? I’ve heard good things tho, so maybe it was an off night.

– And on this cafe – there can’t be too many cafes in Griffith with balconies.

As Sepi said.
Griffith

Ahhhh, just tell us already!! I’m not here for a quiz on Canberra cafe locations.

problem is, if the cafe in question didn’t have the door locked, and the coffee arrived in good time, there wouldn’t be a complaint. speaking as one who was in hospitality, you don’t treat the customer poorly, the word of mouth damage is too much for any operator to deal with. you provide excellent customer service, you bite your tongue and you just try to make the customer’s experience the best that they have ever had. if it all goes to hell in a handbasket, any attempts that you make to rectify the situation and assist the customer will be helpful. other patrons also note your behaviour – saying things like “some customers” to these patrons doesn’t win their loyalty, if anything, they wonder how long till you are talking about them.

if you look at several businesses around town, and the level of customer service that they provide, it is easy to see why they are still in business, and are going strong.

there is no excuse for bad customer service. it is the difference between make or break.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy10:47 am 25 Jun 09

(oh the hours are so long and the pay it really sucks and tight ar$e customers don’t tip just because you manage to be civil to them), and besides you couldn’t hack an afternoon working in one of these places let alone a career so don’t even bother having an opinion if you haven’t walked a mile …

And yet lots of Canberra’s professionals worked their way through uni in worse places this. I hear whinges like this, and it makes me enjoy my interesting and well paid job all the more.

FC said :

I’m pretty sure there is only one organic greengrocer at a southside shopping centre.
It narrows it down to….one location.

Southside begins once you cross the lake and incorporates all of Manuka, Kingston, Fyshwick, Woden, Phillip, Tuggeranong, and Weston Creek……..so nobody has narrowed it down at all – so just name and shame already – at least then the offending cafe has the opportunity to respond to these criticisms, sheesh!

sepi said :

I had an ordinary meal at Axis and very ordinary service – they bumped my chair every single time they moved past to the table behind – which was continual. And the place was mostly empty, so whey seat everyone in one tight corner? I’ve heard good things tho, so maybe it was an off night.

– And on this cafe – there can’t be too many cafes in Griffith with balconies.

As Sepi said.
Griffith

I’m pretty sure there is only one organic greengrocer at a southside shopping centre.
It narrows it down to….one location.

Hells_Bells749:57 am 25 Jun 09

FC said :

If you think about it it you should be able to figure out wich cafe it is.
Clues:
*Southside.
*Cafe which has an outside area which is not visible from the main counter.
*Neighbouring organic green grocer.
I have also experienced poor customer service at said cafe, and will not be returning.

Southside – yeh it’s a huge area.
Cafe with hidden outside area – couldn’t see it to know it then.
Organic – I don’t bother noticing.

So I have no idea still where/what this place is.

Clown Killer9:51 am 25 Jun 09

Acaciaelata if I were you I’d be slipping on my asbestos suit right about now. Not because the issues that you have raised cut to the very core of the phenomenally poor customer service experienced almost uniformly across all aspects of the hospitality business in this town, but because of the wrath of the very miscreants that you so shamelessly expose.

Stand by for a cavalcade of whingy, bitchy indignation from baristas, waiters and waitresses, cooks, chefs (which in this town generally means cooks with an ego disproportionate to their ability) and a coterie of their camp followers.

Your desire for an establishment to simply produce a product commensurate with its cost and their claims of quality and provenance in the setting that they have provided clearly marks you as one of the hoard of selfish, mollycoddled, leafy-suburbs dwelling stuck-up prats with an overblown sense of entitlement who doesn’t know sh!t about coffee or cafe’s or how hard it is to work in hospitality (oh the hours are so long and the pay it really sucks and tight ar$e customers don’t tip just because you manage to be civil to them), and besides you couldn’t hack an afternoon working in one of these places let alone a career so don’t even bother having an opinion if you haven’t walked a mile …

If you think about it it you should be able to figure out wich cafe it is.
Clues:
*Southside.
*Cafe which has an outside area which is not visible from the main counter.
*Neighbouring organic green grocer.
I have also experienced poor customer service at said cafe, and will not be returning.

I had an ordinary meal at Axis and very ordinary service – they bumped my chair every single time they moved past to the table behind – which was continual. And the place was mostly empty, so whey seat everyone in one tight corner? I’ve heard good things tho, so maybe it was an off night.

– And on this cafe – there can’t be too many cafes in Griffith with balconies.

CanbInt said :

Been told that the best service in town is at Ottoman’s (restaurant), but Axis (NMA) also not bad. Any ideas where the ‘best’ service in a cafe is (i.e. polite, efficient, happy, willing to acecpt a mistake and remedy the issue)??

CanbInt, please don’t go kicking off a “best” thread from a comment. Stick to the topic under discussion.

Been told that the best service in town is at Ottoman’s (restaurant), but Axis (NMA) also not bad. Any ideas where the ‘best’ service in a cafe is (i.e. polite, efficient, happy, willing to acecpt a mistake and remedy the issue)??

If you answered A to any of the above:

You’re probably already running a cafe in Canberra.

Come on, it’s a good story but we all want to know who the cafe was!

Service in Canberra is generally quite poor, which is why we get all excited when we encounter good service. And if you happen to have a problem or try to “talk to the manager”, prepare for a thoroughly unpleasant, pointless experience.

which is why it’s important to mention exceptionally poor service here on RA. But also to mention exceptionally good service.

They can’t make it so that locked doors can be opened from outside – because then anyone could get into their store from the balcony.

Love the way you wrote that! I went to a southside cafe awhile ago for breakfast. They screwed up the breakfast but were apologetic for the entire thing and didnt charge us a cent even though we were willing to pay for the coffee (which was amazing). I have since gone back.

Name and shame!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy9:01 am 25 Jun 09

Most of them.

Cafe’s name: Fawlty Towers?

Hehe! Brilliant and highly enjoyable post!

Which cafe was it?

Good customer service can make up for a host of other deficiencies in any business…Unfortunately many of our businesses are crap when it comes to ‘serving’ the customer.

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