Is it me, or has there been a dramatic drop in the quality of customer service over the past several months?

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The other day at one of the local office supply stores, I tried to talk to a young woman behind the counter about getting a couple hundred letterhead printed on slick paper for a small ad campaign I was thinking about doing.

At first I spoke to some other young woman, who didn't know anything. She turned and called to the other young woman. This other young woman was busy. So when she came over to where I was standing, she was short with me and not very helpful. She quickly offered me one choice and one price, neither of which was acceptable. I thanked her and left.

A few months ago at one of the local fast-food establishments, I tried to order my usual, and found the new help to be a real-life caricature of really bad service. He spoke as if he had just woke up. He didn't have the sandwich I wanted. He didn't have the alternate that I requested. The milk shake machine was broken. And they were out of the soda I wanted. I pulled out of the line and went elsewhere.

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They have gotten better. Well . today I was waiting in line about ten feet from the speaker, too far away to give my order, but this young man's voice kept insisting, with some irritation, on helping me anyway: "May I help you? (Pause) May I HELP you? (Pause) MAY I HELP YOU!?" Then when he was able to help me, he got the order wrong. What can I say.

What's going on here? I'll tell you. It's the culmination of years of "down-sizing", a currently bad economy, poor training, and lazy management. Add in a little corporate greed, and you have some really bad customer service. It's a shame. And a little scarry.

Come the first quarter of 2002, when corporations announce their fiscal year 2001 revenues and earnings, most will report dismal results. Gee, I wonder .? Do you think getting angry with customers, yelling at them, not listening to them, taking their money and quickly turning away from them, do you think that might have something to do with the results? Hmm.

Local small business is not immune to poor customer service. But small business lives or dies, and quickly, on how well they serve their customers. It is their big and measurable difference. Now is the time. Don't say you didn't get your chance.

DM