It still amazes me how tuned out people are to each other. What I find even more amazing is that this happens all the time in the service industry.
How often have you had an experience like this…
You go into a retail store and you’re ignored by the clerk. You stand in line at a rental car place, bank, airline ticket counter, and you’re the next to be called. Two or three people behind the counter ignore you because whatever they’re doing on their computer is more important than you.
I train my teams with this simple question, “What is more important than the guest or customer in your place of business while you’re working?” The only answer is NOTHING!!
I can wait a long time if someone just looks at me, acknowledges my existence and says, “I’ll be right with you.” It’s when you ignore me, knowing full well that I’m right there in your place of business, and you can’t simply look at me and acknowledge me. I can see you’re busy, and I get that. But that still doesn’t give people the license to not acknowledge the people paying their salaries.
I learned a long time ago that in a goods and services economy, the people paying for the goods and services are ultimately the people you work for. Give us some courtesy, greet us with a smile, and you’d be surprised how long we would wait for you.
