Poor customer service is one of my greatest pet peeves. If you can’t appreciate your customer, why should you expect them to appreciate your business?
A few weeks ago I was having a working lunch at a restaurant in Nairobi. From the time I ordered my salad, until the time it arrived, 1.5 hours had passed!
It wasn’t the delay that disappointed me the most (although, let’s be honest, 1.5 hours for a salad is ridiculous!). It was the response of the server and manager of the restaurant that upset me the most.
In the process of trying to figure out what had happened with my order, not one person took responsibility for the situation. Instead, they passed the blame, covered up the truth to save face, and provided me with a negative customer experience.
When you go through such an experience you realise that not everyone knows how to appreciate customers. And when your customers feel unappreciated, eventually they’ll stop doing business with you.