Simple Things

Sometimes it truly astonishing to me how some businesses stay in business. My wife and I have just come back from a vacation/business trip in which we were over and over again astonished by the lack of attention to the basics of customer service. At one point, we were so overly frustrated and fed up with the people in the state we were in that we decided to just stay in the hotel for the entire day to avoid interacting with anyone that might have to actually provide a rudimentary level of service for my money.

My wife and I decided to pull off the road we were on to stop and get some lunch and also to feed our little girl. We stopped into a little Cuban place that looked nice and filled us with excitement as we LOVE Cuban food. As we were seated in our section, we were greeted by a nice woman that dropped off some water and our menus. We got to the business of feeding our little girl and forgot about the time until about 10 min later when we realized it had been 1o min since we saw a waiter. He walked up finally and bluntly asked if we were ready to order. My wife and I looked at each other puzzled but went ahead and ordered anyway. She started with her dish and then he looked at me. I proceeded to ask him many questions about two specific dishes. After about 1 min, to my shock and surprise, he just simply walked away from me while I was deciding. About 5-7 min later he showed up again and I asked him why he walked away. He did not understand my question and told me his English is not good. Ahhh Haaaah... Now I get it. Lack of attention to our needs was founded in not understanding the language I was speaking.

Here is the lesson. If I am the owner, even in a heavily Hispanic touristy area like we were in, is it not in his or her best interests to find me a table where someone does speak English? Where I can have the opportunity to enjoy my whole experience at the establishment and not just the food? Is it not the job of the owner to anticipate the needs of the customer to ensure this is the case?

Also, is it not incumbent on the waiter to find someone who can communicate with us in a way that is consistent with our needs? If he were truly looking out for the needs of my family and not for his own self interest, would he not have found a person that could take our table and serve us in a way that is effective for both us and the establishment? Or even better, is it not incumbent on the waiter to be honest and sincere with us up front and tell us that his english is poor and ask us if we speak spanish at all. We may not speak spanish, but at least it sets our expectations immediately for what our experience will be like and how we will interact in this experience.

There are so many details when it comes to customer service. Sometimes it is about speed of service. Sometimes it is about anticipating the needs of the customer. Sometimes it is about asking questions. Sometimes it is about how we are spoken to, etc etc.... Creating a great experience for anyone is about understanding the specific need of that person at that moment in time and finding a way to be authentic in delivering on what it is they are seeking from you.