True tales from the workplace: customer service is dead, long live customer service

T+D, July, 2003 by Haidee E. Allerton

I know this tale is true because I was there. It happened to me.

I was on a business trip to Orlando--home of Walt Disney World and its famed customer service, ironically as you'll find out--and checking into my accommodations at a well-known hotel suite chain called...let's call it A***S****s.

The front desk clerk was a young woman with her shirttail sticking out of her pants and a disinterested look. She dutifully registered me, handed me my room key card, forced a half-hearted smile onto her face, and said, "This is me pretending to smile."

OK, so maybe she was having a bad day, she was unduly tired, her boyfriend just broke up with her...any number of reasons that put her in a funk. But, I submit, as a customer I am not an approved or suitable object upon which to visit her funkatude. So, I took the card and said, "And this is me pretending to say thank you." She was so disengaged that she registered no reaction to my outstanding retort.

Fast-forward to later that night and I push the phone button for a wake-up call. The phone rings...and rings...and rings. . .and rings. Finally, a voice answers. "Yeah?" Same young woman, I suspect.

"May I leave a wake-up call?"

"Yeah, I heard the phone ringing and hoped it would stop, but it just kept ringing." Nervous laugh.

OK, this is a joke, right? Where's the candid camera?

I ventured on. "Is this the right number for leaving a wake-up call?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, 6:30 a.m., please."

"You're set." Click.

Miraculously, I did get a wake-up call at the designated time.

If my company had been footing the bill, I would have moved to another hotel, and I know from experience that this would never have happened at Disney World.