Would it Kill People to be Nice?

It amazes me that in this day and age that there are still crappy customer service agents out there! I find it hard to believe that there aren't nice people out there who need a job and would love to get paid to talk to people.

A couple months ago my daughter had been to the doctor because she had a cough she couldn't shake and they sent her in for a chest x-ray. My insurance didn't cover a whole whopping $32 of it. When the accounts receivable department called to tell me about it, I asked them to send me out a bill so that I could pay for it. Mind you, it took six weeks from the appointment date to bring this to my attention to start with. That being said, I didn't get the bill until about 2 days ago finally.

I called this afternoon to pay the balance and encounted a lady who clearly HATES her job. When I didn't have an account number to spare her the trouble of changing her client search field she made sure to ask for my phone number with a long drawn out sigh, as if this little click had just required her to sprint a 10 mile marathon without being able to stop for water along the way. (Sorry lady, all I wrote down this morning was the number to pay it, shame on me).  She went straight into getting my debit information without even so much as a "I'll be glad to take care of that for you today" or a "Thank you for taking care of this." I knew roughly what I owed, but wanted to verify the charge amount for my records. Again, I offended this woman by wanting to know what I was being charged and not having the bill directly in front of me so that I didn't have to take up her precious time with a silly question like, "What will the final charge be?"

I admit that I'm most likely the worst customer ever, because here at Levin Tire it's my job to teach people like her to be nice to people! I'm also the customer who writes a letter to complain. In my personal/professional opinion, I'd much rather have the opportunity to correct the situation than have our customers go elsewhere because of one bad apple.

I concluded my phone call and ran really quick to get some lunch. The woman behind the counter was probably in her mid to late 40's. My guess... She had not planned on growing up to serve cheeseburgers and french fries, but I'm glad to say that she did greet me kindly, ask how I was doing, and tell me to enjoy my weekend. Please tell me why the woman who makes more money can't be as kind as the lady who handed me my grilled chicken sandwich?

Customer service is essential in today's world and we pride ourselves on having some of the friendliest and geniune employees around. Thank goodness that lady from the doctor's office does not work for our organization or we'd be having a serious sit down right about now.

~Laura Stephenson

Quality Assurance Coordiantor