I was staying in a hotel recently and rang down to the restaurant to order a meal which I said I would come down to eat immediately as I was going out shortly.
I ended up waiting nearly 30 minutes for my meal. The staff, who I see regularly, were all very friendly and nice but they somehow didn’t take me seriously that I wanted my meal in a hurry.

When I asked one of them where my meal was up to she said with a cheery smile that the order was on the rack and shouldn’t be long and that she didn’t know what the hold up might be.

There was no acknowledgement on her part that I wasn’t getting what I asked for and neither did she appear to do anything to hurry the meal up.

The staff at this restaurant are obviously not trained in excellent communication. She was not able to change her approach from friendly and nice to professional and concerned. She, and her colleagues had only one mode of customer service.

This was illustrated when I expressed my disappointment at the delay. None of them knew how to respond to me in a clear and calm way. When I made this rather mild complaint they looked flustered and embarrassed.

Great customer service means that no matter what the customer says the staff member can tune in to their needs and respond with appropriate words and actions.

First posted by John Faisandier on 1st August, 2010