“The customer is always right!” This is a phrase that is heard often in the retail business, especially for those who work in the customer service departments. Although this notion is not extremely new, there seems to be a surge of companies that avidly train their employees to provide customer service that will make the customers want to return to their stores. This area is of particular interest to me because I worked for five years at Redners Warehouse Markets, three of them as a customer service representative. Everyday that I worked, I dealt with irate customers who “were always right,” and who stood there and repeatedly told me I was wrong even after I proved that I was right. This gets frustrating after an eight hour shift. However, throughout the whole thing, we were expected to remain calm and deal with the situation in a kind and patient manner. However, not all of the customers were hard to deal with. Many of them were polite and accepted the answer that I was able to give them. I am also able to view the situation from the customer perspective. We have all been the recipient of “bad” customer service at one time or another. These experiences stick in our minds and we always associate it with the store or company that provided the bad experience. Although customer service is a huge part of shopping or dealing with a company that provides a service, there seems to be a huge amount of time and effort spent training employees in these departments. When I Googled the words “customer service,” there were tons of hits about companies that provide training in customer service to other companies. These companies will help create what Ramage referred to as readymade workplace identities. The employees will be trained in what to say and how to treat customers.
I am also interested in exploring the language of customer service and its impact on a company as a whole. For instance, I now work at Target, and they refer to their customer as “guests.” To me, this is a little overboard. Just call them customers. During training, we spent at least an hour discussing how to treat customers and how Target prides itself on their excellent service in all areas. However, when I am shopping there, it is hard to find an employee to help when I need it. A website called, Language in the New Capitalism explores some of the issues related to language in capitalism today. This language could also be considered as part of the readymade identity. Employees, or “team members” as Target calls them, are instructed to look for people who look like they need help and ask to help them. Redners employees are given a list of questions and phrases they are instructed to say at the checkout lanes. Most of the time, from my perspective, this often annoys the customers instead of seeming to be helpful. Although I have focused on these two companies simply because I have first-hand experience with them, I plan to visit many different types of stores and see how I am treated as a customer and if I notice any more of these catch phrases. As I explore these areas, I hope to observe and see how customer service is provided in other areas, and if the customer is always right, and how our culture and economy support this area of customer service.