CUSTOMER SERVICE AND COBWEBS

      I tried Google for a ‘customer service definition:’   there were 7,100,000 hits in 0.13 seconds.  These are just a minute few of those hits:  excellent customer service definition, exceptional , great, internal, superior customer service definition, customer service dictionary, customer satisfaction definition, and customer service representative definition. 

Sooooo.  On with my story!

TIME:  It was time to get the oil changed and a 30,000 mile check up on my van.  Also, the driver’s seat is supposed to slide forwards and backwards and it quit a couple weeks ago.  It still went up and down and tilted but not sliding forwards and backwards.

PLACE:  My auto dealership where I bought the van.

WHO:  Me, the sales manager, two salesmen, the shop service manager, one service technician and the young lady at the pay desk.

WHAT:  My critically observant eye and my big mouth.  An uncomfortable moment over “Cobwebs.”

WHERE:  In the show room.

WHEN:  While I was waiting for the seat in the van to be fixed.

WHY:  It was too hot in the Service customer waiting room.

          I took the van in on Wednesday for the oil change and the 30,000 mile checkup.  They had to order a part for the seat so I took it back in on Friday morning for the fix.  The Service Manager said they’d be right on it and it’d only be about an hour.  So I took my crochet and headed for the Customer waiting room.  It was one of those lovely cool, breezy September days.  I soon realized they must have turned the air conditioning down or off.  It got really muggy and warm, so I gathered up my stuff and headed out.  There was a single chair over by the windows, so I settled in with my coffee and crochet.  The young lady at the pay desk came out.  We discussed the weather.  She decided to open up the doors and it was really nice.  I thanked her for the breeze.  She smiled.

          There was a drop-dead beautiful bright RED Harley Davidson sitting right in front of me.  I couldn’t help being distracted.  Why is it there?  I got up and checked it out.  It's a six speed Screaming Eagle.  It is pretty!

 

 

 

 

Amused and thinking about my bucket list, I wondered how it would feel to be perched up there behind Steve McQueen, my hair blowing in the wind? 

 

 

A young salesman wondered over.  I had overheard him talking on the phone in a sales booth behind me.  I had noticed how polite he was on the phone, quoting makes and models and assuring the caller that he was certain they could make a deal, etc.  He’s smiling, friendly, says, “You’d sure look good on that.”  (Silver tongued devil!)  “Yeah, I was just thinking that myself.”

 

I continue, “But you all would have to hook something up behind it so I could haul my scooter along.  I don’t think Wal-Mart’s going to appreciate me running around shopping on that Harley.”  This kid is absolutely brilliant.  He says, “Well, if you were on that, I bet no one would try to stop you.”  We both laughed.  He went on. 

 

I went over to check out the bright yellow Challenger.  A 2012 Yellow Jacket, 392 Hemi at $50,256.  Shoot, why not?

 

 

 

 

Eventually I go back to sitting and crocheting.  But I had noticed cob webs built up under the tires of the Harley.  Surely it’s not been in that one spot long enough for cob webs? 

 

 

 

 

Now if you look just in front of that rear tire you can see those little specks on the tile.  The cobwebs were running all around there from the tire to those little specks.

 

     Soon another salesman comes in.  He and the young guy are talking.  I interject, “You guys are gonna have to clean up the cobwebs under this Harley, it doesn’t look good.”  The older (still younger than me) guy says, “I don’t have to do anything.”  And he looks like he means it.  I mean he’s not smiling.  He’s not congenial.  He’s not kidding.  I think, ‘maybe, he’s mad?’  Undaunted, I reply, “Oh, you don’t have a job description?”  He’s quick, “My job is to sell cars, not clean floors.”  I’m never speechless, “Gosh, well I certainly wasn’t expecting that kind of response.”  He turns his head.  Young guy looks like he can’t believe what’s going on. 

          Interesting!  All my job descriptions said ‘and other jobs as directed’ on the bottom line.  But then I wasn’t a car salesman.  I was a nurse.  Oh well!  So I shut up and let it go.

I go back to crocheting.  Weird, the pattern of the little piece I was crocheting was named ‘Cobwebs.’

 

          After a while, the Sales Manager comes out.  I’ve known this guy for a long time.  He used to live next to my Aunt Helena.  In 2011, he steered me towards a pretty blue van, got me a salesman and a good deal.  He always comes around for conversation and greetings when I’m in the dealership.  He’s a really nice guy.  He and the young guy and I have a long conversation, cars, weather, family, etc.  Then the Service Shop Manager comes in, my van is all done, everything completed.  So the Sales Manager and I keep talking and the Service Manager listens in.  The Sales Manager brings up what had just happened and apologizes on the spot.  I said, “Oh, gosh, that’s okay, I just think he might need some training on customer service.”  Pretty soon, we finish up, they both leave and I pay my oil change bill at the service desk to that nice young lady. 

Apparently, she’s been observing everything that happened.  She looks at me and she says, “I’m so sorry for the way he was talking to you.  That was uncalled for.”  I try to pass it off, “Listen, I’m a happy customer.  I’m not upset, really.  He just needs to calm down or something.”  Then she says, “The Service Manager has your car ready to go, but he asked if you would come back through the shop.  I think he wants to talk to you, too.”

          So I go to the shop and the new Service Manager and the technician (this one, who helped me order and installed my safety back up camera/monitor) both meet me with concerned faces.  More apologies.  I’m impressed.  They’re a team.  I assure them both that I’m more than satisfied with their service.  I’m a happy customer.  But I have to tell you I was most impressed with that young guy in the showroom.    

He’s a winner.

I believe this younger generation is going to be all right.

Copyright – 2012 – Doris Grant Frey

Positive Thinking

This IRIS is named, "I Feel Good."  

(Taken from the Iris garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.)

 

There are lots of things in life that give us power. 

One of the most successful of those is the ability to practice positive thinking. 

Thinking is an activity that occurs in your mind.  It is a choice!  You can actually choose to think or not to think.  Sometimes we just run around in circles and don’t really think at all.  Then there are times we actually think something to death.  Is there such a thing as thinking too much?  In the first case, thoughtlessly, we usually run amuck.  Something dreadful (or at least not good) finally happens as a result of our thoughtlessness.  Then we whine, “Oh, what was I thinking?”  In the latter case, the thinking process runs wild and takes over.  Every perspective, every possible outcome, and every possible action become a circus of chaos in our minds.

This definition of thought comes from Wikipidia, The Free Encyclopedia:

Thought generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination.[1] Because thought underlies almost all human actions and interactions, understanding its physical and metaphysical origins, processes, and effects has been a longstanding goal of many academic disciplines including, among others, biology, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.

Thinking allows beings to make sense of or model the world in different ways, and to represent or interpret it in ways that are significant to them, or which accord with their needs, attachments, objectives, plans, commitments, ends and desires.             

                                                                                                                                http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought

Here’s a simpler approach.  I’ve heard of lots of different kinds of thinking:

1.       There’s thinking with your stomach, usually affects my diet big time. 

2.       There’s thinking with your brain.  That means factual or scientific type exercises. 

3.       I love thinking with my heart, but have found that can be pretty precarious.

4.       Thinking with your big toe.  I learned this from Gary, it’s about humorous thinking.

5.       Thinking with your gut.  Based on perceptions from the past and current.

6.       Negative thinking, always perceiving the worst.

7.       Positive thinking, always perceiving the best.

Being a nurse for forty-five years, I think I’ve encountered lots of different kinds of thinkers.   And it gets complicated because no one is actually just one specific type.  There are lots of combinations, like the scientific guy who always tries to be funny.  Or the gal who’s always thinking the worst from her heart.  It’s really difficult to try to get someone to change how they think about something.  Politicians are spending millions of dollars this year just for that. 

I started thinking about this after an incident that happened at Sunday lunch.  Three adults were having conversation about a somewhat controversial topic.  Controversial, of course, depending on how you look at it.  A very quiet and observant thirteen year old was present, not participating in the conversation, but very attentive.  The conversation took several turns.  Then it kind of lagged, seemed like everyone had their say and the thirteen year old spoke up.  “Doris, do you always try to look at the positive side of things?  It seems like you do……….?”  I had to literally stop and think how to answer this young thinker.  Feeling very complimented, I was inclined to say something like ‘Oh yes, I always do’.  But I was hoping to make it one of those learning kind of moments for her.  So, I said, “I’ve found that it always works out better in life to try.”

I doubt if the thirteen year old instantly changed how she thinks.  But I’m hopeful that in the future she will stop and consider what may be a more positive way to consider something in her thoughts.

What man says about thinking:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.”
― Henry Ford

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” ~Voltaire

“Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.” ~Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

“Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” ~Winnie the Pooh

“Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~John F. Kennedy

&

What God says about thinking:

Philippians 4:8
Christian brothers, keep your minds thinking about whatever is true, whatever is respected, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever can be loved, and whatever is well thought of. If there is anything good and worth giving thanks for, think about these things.

Matthew 23:23
“It is bad for you, teachers of the Law and proud religious law-keepers, you who pretend to be someone you are not! You give one-tenth part of your spices, and have not done the most important things of the Law, such as thinking what is right and wrong, and having pity and faith. These you should have done and still have done the other things also.

Romans 12:3
God has given me His loving-favor. This helps me write these things to you. I ask each one of you not to think more of himself than he should think. Instead, think in the right way toward yourself by the faith God has given you.

So, what do you think?

 

Copyright 2012 Doris Grant Frey