The economic stress we have experienced the past few years has brought to the surface underlying tensions and suppressed emotions. In the customer-care realm, take Steven Slater the JetBlue flight attendant who was responding to one or more rude passengers cursed them out on the plane’s intercom and after landing exited down the plane’s emergency slide with two beers. Even as disturbing as this behavior is, numerous Facebook pages supported his actions coupled with video tributes on YouTube. I find this public treatment of Mr. Slater even more disturbing.
No doubt, the economic downturn, price pressures, and job reductions have really put a strain on everyone. Almost everyone who has worked with the public can relate to some degree of the trying times that can occur with customer service; however, only imagining carrying out such a crazy stunt in order to relieve the stress and tensions.
So, is this incident indicative of a larger corporate/employee shortfall? Is it a lack of training? Is the world becoming less civilized? Perhaps it symbolizes the frustration, anger, and uncertainty we may be experiencing in today’s confusing work environment with doing more with less.
However you define the situation, the demonstrated behavior is rude, crude, and very unacceptable. In my time in the business world, I have found that many people find pride and meaning in their jobs or careers not merely a way to make money in order to keep a roof over their heads and food in their mouths. Â It is possible to be involved with meaningless working conditions, but there is never a good reason for an employee to take their frustrations out on a customer.
Yes, consumers as a group are more demanding than ever, but the privilege of interacting with customers should never be taken lightly. In these economic times more than ever, serving the people who purchase our products and services requires that the entire business provide customer satisfaction or risk losing them. Without the customer, no one from the entry level associate to the CEO will be employed.
Take care of your customer, or someone else will.
