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| Waiter Training Newsletter |
Books & Manuals Restaurant Training Manuals Training Book for Waiters & Waitresses Care About Your Employees and They
Will Care About Your BusinessDoes it seem like we sacrifice customer service when we go to a fast food restaurant? Because it’s fast food and the “servers” aren’t actually “serving” us, is it ok for them to avoid eye contact, act like they would rather be somewhere else and even treat customers rudely? Maybe if that food was free, I’d accept that. But it isn’t free; it’s only supposed to be fast.
Recently, I stopped into a fast food, small chain restaurant. They are known for their good, quality food. I walked in and dutifully picked up a menu to peruse before stepping up to the counter. When I was ready, I stepped up to the counter and waited for the unhappy cashier/order taker to finish the task she was doing. When she approached, I said, “Hi,” as I am wont to do, to which she replied, barely above a whisper, “For here or to go?” It was then that I saw the sign above her head and, indeed, well above where most people’s eye levels are, unless you happen to be 10’6” tall, that read:
Please inform the cashier “Here” or “To Go”
before placing your order.Oops! My mistake! The sign didn’t tell me I should not say hello or be nice. It said merely to make the cashier’s job as easy as possible. Ok, they gave me the rules and I didn’t see them. I’ll own that one, I said to myself.
But I did have a question about how the menu works. I had a total of three questions, to which all were responded with barely audible grunts, indicating “yes” or “no.”
When my food was ready, another young lady, who also didn’t look happy to be there, put my food into a bag and stepped out away from the counter and looked at the three of us who had stopped in for take out. Again, barely audible, I could hear something that sounded vaguely familiar, like maybe I had ordered what she mumbled. She confirmed with a nod that yes, this was my food. I went to her because she seemed unable to step out of the area assigned to her. I reached for my food and she pushed it into my body and immediately turned away, no “thank you” or anything! I got the feeling she wanted me gone as quickly as possible. I was and I don’t think I’ll be back any time soon.
Conversely, I have had wonderful experiences in fast food establishments. Last summer, we were coming home from a camping trip and just wanted to get some food fast and hit the road. We stopped at a famous fast food chain restaurant in mid morning. It was the time of morning when they had stopped serving breakfast and were moving into the lunch menu. I really wanted breakfast items and I thought, what the heck, I’ll ask! I was pleasantly surprised when the manager on duty said, “We have some breakfast still available, what did you have in mind?” I told her and she made it clear that it was no problem and she was glad to do it! She made eye contact even though she was busy preparing for the lunch rush and she made us feel welcome for coming in and asking about breakfast. It didn’t seem to be a huge inconvenience. Even if they had been out of breakfast, her attitude would have made us order something anyway.
I know that working in restaurants can be grueling and sometimes thankless. I know that the fast food industry has its own, unique style of burn-out among servers. But when it turns into blatant rudeness, most of us don’t feel compelled to go back for more, no matter how good the food.
What is the solution? It’s not always possible, nor is it the best answer, to immediately get rid of an employee. I think most people are worth some research.
I suggest employee incentives that will make people happy to be working. Give them something to look forward to, like cash incentives, bonuses or gift certificates for outstanding customer service. How will you know if they give outstanding customer service? Watch and listen. If someone comes into work with a bad attitude before they even get on the floor, you can be sure that isn’t going to change just because he/she is working with the public. In fact, that almost ensures that the attitude will get worse! Find out what’s going on and do a quick pep talk.
Value your people. Build them up and make them feel valued and part of the team. I don’t believe that the two rude employees I encountered intended to be rude. I believe they just didn’t know how their actions were interpreted. I feel strongly that no one has ever taken the time to share customer service skills with them. No one has ever properly trained them and many other hourly employees who work in the fast food industry.
The fast food industry is huge and it’s growing. We should be focusing on improving the quality of service and the quality of the environment in which these people work. Training them properly makes them feel valuable and makes them realize the importance of their jobs. All this, in turn, can translate into greater customer care if you encourage it do so.
Susie Ross has been involved in the hospitality industry for ten years
. She has just written a definitive work on front of house customer service and techniques for waiters and waitresses. For more information about Susie's book, "A Waiters Training," her training manuals and training seminars please visit her at http://www.waiter-training.com or email her at susie@waiter-training.com.©Waiter Training 2003
Excellence is an act won by training and habituation.
We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence,
but rather we have those because we have acted rightly.
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.- Aristotle
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