Teachable Moments
Monday, June 28, 2010
Customer Service
Recently, I went on a Ladies Weekend Retreat. We rented some vans to take all of the ladies to our retreat location. Upon arrival to the rental office, a young man offered to assist us with the necessary paperwork to secure the vans.
We began to ask him for clarification on the matters involving the return of the vans and the cost for each day's use. He became irritated with our questions and made the comment, "You called us....we didn't call you!"
We were offended by his statement and the rude manner in which he said it. We asked to speak to his manager, who did not understand why we were offended. While we were trying to explain to the manager, the young man approached the counter again and rudely questioned, "Do you want the vans or not!". That was it!
We asked to speak to the supervisor over both of them!
When we explained the situation to the supervisor, he apologized profusely and stated that they should never have spoken to us in such an unprofessional manner.
One of the ladies in my group suggested to the supervisor that he make arrangements for both men take a course on Customer Service!
It was a teachable moment for me because Educators need to learn how to be more cordial, professional, patient and accomodating to the parents, family members and other community members when they walk onto our school campuses. As a site administrator, I cannot count the number of times that I had to "put out fires" because someone on the campus responded rudely to a a guest, instead of handling the situation with the utmost professionalism.
Educators, should we take a course on "customer service"? After all, it is because of these very parents that we have children to work with on a daily basis.
We should exercise every bit of professionalism with our parents, family members, community and students. They are, indeed, our clientele!
We began to ask him for clarification on the matters involving the return of the vans and the cost for each day's use. He became irritated with our questions and made the comment, "You called us....we didn't call you!"
We were offended by his statement and the rude manner in which he said it. We asked to speak to his manager, who did not understand why we were offended. While we were trying to explain to the manager, the young man approached the counter again and rudely questioned, "Do you want the vans or not!". That was it!
We asked to speak to the supervisor over both of them!
When we explained the situation to the supervisor, he apologized profusely and stated that they should never have spoken to us in such an unprofessional manner.
One of the ladies in my group suggested to the supervisor that he make arrangements for both men take a course on Customer Service!
It was a teachable moment for me because Educators need to learn how to be more cordial, professional, patient and accomodating to the parents, family members and other community members when they walk onto our school campuses. As a site administrator, I cannot count the number of times that I had to "put out fires" because someone on the campus responded rudely to a a guest, instead of handling the situation with the utmost professionalism.
Educators, should we take a course on "customer service"? After all, it is because of these very parents that we have children to work with on a daily basis.
We should exercise every bit of professionalism with our parents, family members, community and students. They are, indeed, our clientele!