by Kathy Vandermark

Created on: December 01, 2008

There are explanations to the alarming decline in customer service, and most of it can be pinned on the company as a whole, but not all of it. We do see the occasional cashier or floor attendant who is having a bad life and don't care who knows it. There is absolutely no cause for an employee to mistreat a customer. Everyone has a bad day but if this employee carries around this same personality day after day, it is then the fault of the company. They need hospitable employees to run the business.

We also have the employee who will run from customers because it is he, who has been abused one too many times. Some customers demand total attention immediately, and the employee better have the solution, immediately. Customers need to have respect as well. We wouldn't go into the doctor's office and demand immediate attention. There is a waiting line and priorities come first. This employee is trying to get his work done plus cater to us. We need to be courteous and patient.

And as for most companies today, and the biggest reason for decline in customer service, is because of cut-backs. A company, such as a retail store, tends to put on hiring freezes. This hurts the area of customer service. They will either let go of extra customer service employees or use the customer service employees on the floor. They are no longer behind the counter, helping the customer.

A hiring freeze hurts good customer service, the employees, and society economically. Using retail for an example, here's what happens:

A company generally starts out with ample employees. Everyone has their department. They work in the department and learn it like the back of their hand. They can help customers with anything in their department. They have time to do their work without stress and are able to give friendly customer service. This system is superb to any large retail outlet. But the companies get greedy. They know they can run the store on fewer employees so they change the system. The employees are given more work with less time to do it in. The job is now stressful, and for many of them, their stress level is much higher than any of supervisors. The stress makes them less friendly and the more they help customers, even the less, the time they have to do the extra work.

Later down the road, the company decides they can cut back even more. They stop replacing employees that have quit. The employees seem to be getting the work done, no matter how many are on staff. The company seems to overlook how

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