Bad Natures Result In Bad Service

An acquaintance of mine went to Sears in St. Paul this past weekend to buy a lawn mower. He brushed aside our suggestions, for buying a cheaper ($150) but reliable Honda lawn mower at Sam's club, in favor of buying American, and in favor of going with the good Sears brand name and extended warranty. He and his family had worked with Sears for years and were very happy with them. He was ready to spend $400 to $500 dollars this past weekend. He did not need selling; he just needed service and some instruction. He was at the store for 15 minutes actively looking the lawn mower over while between 3 to 5 employees watched but did not approach him to see if they could help. There were no other customers in that area of the store. He finally approached one woman in an adjacent department to see if she would help him. He directly asked for assistance. She pointed to where the lawn mowers were and then walked away. He was so furious that he left the store without buying anything. As he left, one employee finally asked him if he wanted anything. He said no. What can we learn from this train-wreck example of terrible, discourteous customer service? If we checked deep, we would likely find employees that are not paid that well. Under-compensated employees do not perform that well. In most business organizations, like any institution, there is a pecking order ruled by a dictator at the top. Enslaved people suffer from unhappiness and low self-esteem, so they do not make good employees. Crap rolls down hill, so the front line sales associates, at the bottom of the pecking order, dealing with customers, often, routinely are beat up and humiliated by their superiors. They suffer low morale as their suggestions are often ignored. Anyone, that is dumped on, will find someone to vent on. It is almost like a law of thermodynamics. If the employer beats the crap out of disrespected, non-cherished employees, they will dump on customers, the life blood of the business. Getting enthused customers in the Sears store to buy their products and services are the only reasons that the doors are open at all, providing employment for all that work there. These lazy, hostile, rude, sullen employees still have free will and should unionize and fight back against Management if they feel slighted. If they hate their job, they should take another. The customer is king and should be treated with respect and kindness. There is no excuse for how my acquaintance was mistreated. Sadly, it happens all the time. All those ill-mannered employees should be let go. I state repeatedly that we are basically evil. Many bosses, managers and supervisors are cruel because, they enjoy hurting others--not just because that is how the company wants them to supervise that way. Many of them are slave-drivers that enjoy inflicting pain, exploitation and squeezing workers to overwork for the sake of attacking a captive audience that cannot fight back without being terminated. Employees are basically evil too. They enjoy being abused, overworked, exploited and enslaved. Most of their personal lives a a mess too, leading non-individuated lives of quiet desperation. It is no wonder that a pack of these malcontents working together on the sales floor are unhappy and performing poorly. Maybe my acquaintance was lucky that they did not hurl the lawnmower manual at him, or throw him out of the store, or call the police and falsely accuse him of alleged shoplifting. Where people work and exist in packs as non-individuators, where they lead trapped, unhappy lives in which they inflict pain and endure without meaningful protest or fighting back against pain inflicted upon them, it will be customary that their public behavior will default to the apathetic, sullen, non-welcoming kind of disgraceful customer service endured by this customer. Where people as individuals lead liberated, rewarding lives, and are ethical persons, and work for a warm, humane employer, then the employees will transcend this basic nature of theirs, and provide inviting, excellent customer service.