Customer Service: WTF is That?

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Customer Service: What it used to be like!

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uploaded by Barry Artiste

Opinion
Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor

Yes, we have all heard of it, "Customer Service", like Jesus, Allah, Buddha or an honest Politician, a myth we have never actually seen. 

Marketers today are putting a new positive spin on the non existent Customer Service , that is DIY or do it yourself, it saves time and money for harried consumers.  Of course what they don't tell you is the lack of customer service saves corporates BIG MONEY in not hiring anyone.   This new BUZZWORD called Labour Deployment, really means Unemployment.

Now we all know the recent Buzzword used by Hillary, you know Misremembering and MisSpeaking, well I will try and wade through the total horseshit of Buzzwords used today by those who wish to Baffle us with Brilliance and  Confuse us with Crap. I was there a scant two decades ago, before the advent of computerization, outsourcing, sustainablility, eco and other useless Marketing techno lingo.

Lets see if you can compare what I know what we used to have and you can compare what we have now.  Pundits, Social Philosphers, Marketers and such.. state today is better than the old days.

For Now Public Readers, I will take us all down my memory lane, devoid of MisRemembering in Labor Deployment and let you know, like Jesus, Allah, Buddha etc.... we did have Customer Service, but lost our way.
 
Banking
Before ATM's,  We had Tellers.  What are those you say? Well they are unlike WalMart greeters, they did more than say hello.  Tellers took  your money and issue you a reciept, thus fraud was averted, not like ATMS and the resulting frauds associated with it.  Loan Officers on the other hand lent you money.  But now Banks let you apply online, thus  reducing the need for a loan officer and increased internet fraud.  

Restaurants
As a kid, I had never heard of buffet or do it yourself food servings. Granted in high school I witnessed the Todays's special of "Spaghetti Os slathered over a hamburger bun in our cafeteria, but did you know we had things like a local A&W with cute roller skating servers who came to your car window to take your order and deliver your food, now it is a drive up window. And Restaurants were not pretentious like today, they had what they called "Blue Plate Specials", real food for real people.  We never heard of todays fear Buzzwords of  Trans fats, Diet,  Genetically modified, etc. 

We also were not as obese as we are today because restaurants limited your portions, not like today when Buffets resemble Mile Long "Hog Troughs" at feeding time.

Gas Stations
They had courteous Men in snappy uniforms and hat who would pump your gas, check your oil, tire pressure, wash your windshield all Free !!  Some gas attendants were ex-servicemen who saluted you as you drove off.

Agriculture
We grow and raise our own food and even send surplus to feed other countries, yet for some reason we import the very food we grow and raise.  Something is seriously wrong that we get seafood from China, produce from other countries, meat for whereabouts unknown when we are one of the largest soil rich land masses and longest seaboard in the world.

There was a time when local farmers, used to send thier produce to local markets, markets that in some instances would do daily deliveries to your home, just put a milk, bread, egg sign in your front window and in the early morning your food was delivered with a smile and at a good price too. In the olden days, as we called it dairy, produce, meat, came locally, or from within North America, fresh, rich in nutrients, modestly priced, if you had a problem with any of it,  your grocer would make good immediately.  Today,  with  malachite green (Cancer agent) found in our fish  from China, stronger pesticides and other banned toxic agents in virtually every produce imported into this country to the meat we eat.  Today, we can complain to the Big Box grocery chains via email or voice mail, as the grocery stores say, you must take your complaint to head office. Customer Service? Hey Good Luck with that!!

Retail
Before cheap and disposable Asian manufactured goods hit our stores, from appliances, clothes to cheap breakable sometime toxic produced toys.

We used to manufacture everything in North America, all were strong durable and modestly priced.

If you owned something like High Quality Imported German electronics, such as a Television Antenna, Whoa !,  you were compared to Rockerfella sort of like todays "Bill Gates Rich".

The biggest Box store I ever saw was Simpsons Sears, this was before Simpsons dropped out to do "The Simpsons" and sold his shares to Sears.  I can only assume Homer relations got screwed over that deal.

Anyways Simpsons Sears was a treat, big, High end with every conceivable thing you would desire, retail assistance was at the snap of the fingers or confused glance. Christmas was big business there.

At the lower and more frequented scale were the local neighbourhood Mom and Pop retail stores, attended by them and their kids, most you went to school with or had sleepovers, everyone knew everyone, regardless if in a big city or neighbourhood.  Customer service was king, no long lineups stretching forever or faceless cashiers. In the past regardless if you were getting groceries or clothes, Stores were there to serve and offered reasonable prices.  Our local grocer was Mahouds, a recent Lebanese  immigrant, who would keep a candy jar full for kids without money.
Cheaper than some stealing kids we all heard about.

Cash registers were manual or electronic, if it failed a pencil and paper would suffice as a reciept, not like today, when a computer powers down and a vaccuous look of confusion comes across the cashiers face.

Transportation Industry

There was a time, whether you travelled by air or by train, it was an adventure, made fun by Stewardesses and/or Stewards were more than Safety Exit finger pointers, they got you hot food, pillows, drinks, what ever you required.  Service with a smile, today some of this service is still there, but now some airlines and trains companies ask you to bring a sandwich on the plane or train instead cause they no longer provide food and drink, and if they do, you need to pay up, what was normally included with your fare. Yet the train and airfares do not reflect the reduced service.  At the airport or train station baggage handlers were everywhere to serve. 

Movie Theatres
Small neighbourhood theaters, Not Super Mega Super Duper Quad Super Mall Theatres.  Neighbourhood theatres had Ushers, and big comfy seats, hotdogs, hamburgers, popcorn with real butter, all served to you with a smile and reasonable priced to boot.  A vending machine , like computers was something you saw in Sci Fi movies.

Drive in Movies (Google it) cause there was nothing like watching a Horror movie under the stars on a hot summer night in the family car. Offering great food just like at home.

Automobiles
Flashy with chrome, big, reliable, powerful and 99% manufactured in North America.  Customer service at the dealership either buying or getting warranty work was immediate and with a smile, no haggling and frustration with warranty legalese lingo no one understood, deals were made with a handshake and service with a smile.

Manufactured good and customer service
As I said before North America was self sufficient, we made everything and sold it to the world, a world that scrambled to get our durable, modestly priced and high quality goods.  North American goods were seen as a status symbol the world over.  Our goods, even the lowly toaster and even furniture would last a lifetime, not like off toxic gassing cheap products today made offshore with questionable materials.  Our Clothes were seen as the best quality, lasting many years, many washings, and when discarded were still durable enough to be sent to Goodwill agencies for third world countries to wear. We didn't have third world slave labour in this country making our clothes, we had experienced clothiers.

If ever for any reason you had a defect or problem with any of the above mentioned North American goods you could go to the store in person or pick up the phone and a real life person would address your concerns, usually a repair or store credit.

Now I am not going to tell Now Public readers what is wrong in todays Non existant Customer Service Society, one only has to read all the above and compare to what you have now, and what you could have had then, if you had only put your mind to it.

By comparing what we had and what we have now, perhaps it is time to get back our Birthright as a Nation of innovators, Customer Service and  Manufacturing leaders, instead of Smiley Face  Lowest  Price is the Law  third world importing Consumers.

Demanding customer service and only frequenting businesses that offer Customer Service and buy only North American goods go hand in hand is a start to a long road back to consumer and economic independance for you and your children who need employment and the inherent benefits of being proud of their country.

Respect and Customer Service is a start.