badgerboy: check out this "Miss Manners" answer:
http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/a...

The best customer serivce I came across was with a woman at the Janesville Kohl's jewelry counter. I had my eye on a ring that was really reasonably priced. She told me to come back on the weekend if I could because I could save another 25% with their Early Bird thing, and on top of that, gave me a Friends and Family discount card. I was floored, and I did go back and buy the ring.

Why must people in this country respond with "you're welcome"? Why are we welcoming people after they say "thank you"? You don't hear that in other countries. Just curious.

Last year my family and I were in Rockford at a guitar shop looking for a guitar for our then 11 year old. They had sales associates everywhere and most of them greeted us when we came in. There was only one who came over, introduced himself and asked how he could help us. This young man spent roughly 45 minutes with our son showing him the difference between "cheap" guitars and the more expensive ones. He also explained the different types of wood used to make guitars and took him into the "special" control climate room for the most expensive ones. He played each and every guitar our son was interested in hearing. Both my husband and I were so impressed (considering this was our 3rd store we had been in and was never even approached at the others) I wrote a letter to the manager of the store explaining what a pleasant experience we had. He personally called to thank me and offered a 10% discount for future purchases for a year.

I have two good customer service stories from Beloit. First is Salon Etc. Nothing bothers me more than having my hair done and the stylist keeps running to answer the phone. They let the answering machine take the call or if the receptionist is there she will handle it. Second is my trip to Elder-Beerman earlier this week. I was clothes shopping for my son who is now big enough for men size jeans. I was having a hard time figuring out what size and style Levi's to get him and the clerk helped me look and I think she went out of her way to help me. She was very knowledgeable of her department and did a fantastic job. I've never had someone help me out that much at a store. I wish I would have gotten her name.

YUP! This is a fine article and I agree with you 100%.

spikesmom: AMEN to everything you said!

I think a lot of times the cashier or the server that won't acknowledge you with a "thank you" or a smile doesn't realize that at that moment they are the company they work for. All that matters to me at that moment as a customer is how was I treated. I hear from people all the time that say they won't go back to a particular store or restaurant because the person waiting on them was rude. Customers relate the bad experience to the company itself. I work for a fundraising company and I am dealing with paying customers almost daily. When those people see me, all they see is my company. It doesn't matter what kind of day I am having. I need to smile, be nice and thank EVERY customer, even if they are in a bad mood. They are handing over hard earned money. I am going to go out of my way to acknowledge that. There does need to be more training at a lot of businesses, but it is also not difficult to smile and say thank you.

On another note, can store managers please teach their cashiers how to make change? Everybody is so used to having a machine tell you what the change is. When it's not working, most cashiers have no clue how to make change. I've been asked several times what my change should be. Really? You start with the change. Count up to the next dollar and then count out the paper money. I could make it my full time job going from store to store teaching a class on making change!

Just a little off topic from the subject, but, how many times in 100 purchases does anyone get change counted back to them...correctly? That is also a skill that has been lost, being replaced with things like "yup" and "here's your change".

Getting my change handed back reminds me of another pet peeve...clerks who don't count it out to you. So then you are forced to stand there and count it to make sure it is correct before putting it in your wallet. I recently got handed back $10 too much at a McDonald's and at first the clerk thought I was going to accuse her of shorting me. The shift manager hustled over expecting trouble, it seemed, and both were very surprised when I made them realize I was giving them back $10!

I've worked as a clerk and always made a point of thanking the customer for their purchase, even for the smallest amount. So, it is rather irritating to me to be handed my change without a simple thank-you or even "thanks!", especially when dropping $100+ at the grocery store. And then when I say "thank-you" to them, many are so clueless they still don't even reply with a "you're welcome", let alone reciprocating with a "thank-you" back at me. Is it lack of training, boredom with their job, bad attitude or just the times?

Greg, many customer service people are trained to do that (handle the call first and face-to-face person second). The logic behind it is that the face-to-face person can see that the clerk is busy with a phone call. The caller, however, cannot see that the clerk is helping someone. I managed one of the Beloit motels many moons ago and that was part of our extensive training for front desk clerks...ALWAYS take the phone call first, even if it means interrupting the converation that you're having with someone at the counter.

I wish I was that lucky, gary. I get what Greg gets - "yup". I guess thank you or you're welcome is too much.

As I am a gentleman, I always thank the clerk or waiter and they always respond with "Thank You".

Nancy Kimball of Coldwell Banker stills sends me a Christmas card every year even after selling me a house five years ago.

Have you ever been in a shop doing business when the phone rings and the lone attendant deals with the call first and you second?

It annoys me, but then, obviously, so does being put on hold while the employee deals with the customer who's there in person. Guess I shouldn't expect to have it both ways, eh?

Greg Peck

Heh. Well, my nephew and I were in the Rock County building the other day so he could sort out his child support paperwork. He wanted to know what he had to pay in addition to what came out of his paycheck, because the invoices aren't all that straightforward. The county employee took the time to carefully explain every aspect of the form to him while juggling two calls on hold that kept re-ringing. I'm sure the people on the phone thought "what is going on?" but in reality she was being extremely helpful with someone else. I hope they understood!