Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2006-12-05 05:50:14 - Graham Ellis
Mary was engrossed in her conversation with her workmates last night. Lisa and I nipped into a near-empty (apart from 8 staff) McDonalds and walked up to the counter and stood there for what felt like an age. I'm guessing that they've got some form of inspection today as the frenetic activity going on was washing, scrubbing and cleaning and not a burger to be seen. Cleaning schedules lay on the counter, the hot apple pie machine looked like it was off ...
Eventually (it seemed), Mary mouched over to the till and asked if she could help us. She was duplexing a little as she spoke to us - some conversation or other about another customer going on with one of her colleagues as she punched our order in, but will did get a cheerful if slightly scruffy half smile that made us feel less like outsiders, and she did notice (once we had paid and she had served our drinks) that the burgers weren't ready and offered to bring them over to us when they were cooked.
Mary's not a bad kid, and I think her heart's probably in the right place, but she lacks guidance; perhaps it's just changing times, or perhaps it's the fact that the local McDonalds is now a franchise where customer service isn't top priority ... but it has got really slack in there. We automatically stepped around the ketchup puddles on the floor and scanned around for one of the cleaner tables. "CSL" says I to Lisa who takes the puzzle I've just set, and whispers "Customer Service Lacking??". Yes, that's good - better than the "Customer Service Lessons" I had originally thought.
"KISS" - Keep it simple, Stupid. See back to the previous post, where I mentioned this one. Better to write simpler but more maintainable code that something that's so clever / short that no-one can understand how it works when it needs fixing or updating
"RTFM" - Read the Manual. I probably shouldn't quote this one, beloved of techincal support teams when they answer a question the feel is obvious for the 10th time in an hour, or when they feel that they're a human book-reader with the job of translating words written in a manual the customer already owns into voice waves over the phone. Frankly, I've a great deal of sympathy for customers who ask and I encourage it ... and a repeated question from many sources may indicate something that's hard to understand or is hidden information when it should be easily at hand. And - heck - ask me. I always enjoy a chat and helping!
Mary was engrossed in her conversation with her workmates last night. Lisa and I nipped into a near-empty (apart from 8 staff) McDonalds and walked up to the counter and stood there for what felt like an age. I'm guessing that they've got some form of inspection today as the frenetic activity going on was washing, scrubbing and cleaning and not a burger to be seen. Cleaning schedules lay on the counter, the hot apple pie machine looked like it was off ...