Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Yesterday, on a business trip, I had a 30 minute wait for a train connection. I decided to have some breakfast in a world famous fast food eatery. When I entered the eatery, there were a few customers eating their breakfast and there were a few queuing up to order. After a few minutes, I was ready to order and the member of staff welcomed me with a smile, ‘good morning’ and asked me what I wanted. Now picture the following:

I ordered and as she turned around to collect my order, she said ‘why am I not getting a pay rise, anyway?’. A person replied who I assumed to be her manager, ‘because you’re useless’. She then turned back to me and said with a smile, ‘That’s 95p please’. I paid. ‘Enjoy your breakfast’ she added looking me in the eye. There was no one behind me next in the queue. She turned to her manager, ‘what makes you say I’m useless? No one has ever said that before’.

Manager: ‘you never do anything’

Girl: ‘what do you mean?’

Manager: ‘You only do things when you‘re told to do them’

Girl: ‘Do I?’

Manager: ‘Yeah and that’s why you’re useless’

Girl: ‘Oh’

By now, I had found my seat and was still listening to the Manager/girl conversation. I looked around the restaurant – a few other customers were now looking as well.

How did the girl feel? How did the manager feel? How did the customers feel?

I would imagine the girl felt ‘unhappy, concerned and de-motivated’.

I would imagine the manager felt ‘good, confident and pleased with himself’ (that’s the impression I got by looking at his ‘that told her’ face).

As a customer, I felt embarrassed, angry and helpless. I wanted the company to know how this manager had treated a member of his staff. I wanted to help the manager and tell him where he had gone wrong. I wanted to offer advice to the girl on how to accept the feedback.

The member of staff wasn’t useless. I felt welcomed, she smiled, and she looked me in the eye. It was good friendly service. Her personal customer service was very good – far better than ‘useless’. According to her manager, she was not very proactive. Maybe customer service was her natural strength and being proactive wasn’t. That doesn’t make her useless.

So where did the manager go wrong? How would have you, as the manager, provided feedback?

I would have walked up to that manager and gave hima piece of my mind. It`s his job to make sure she has things to do, also, she sure seemed nice to you and in the end thats what matters.

That`s really ... sad.

Ah...to be an employee again. :-)

First of all, the manager, if she was indeed telling the truth, shares fault. As was stated before, it is her job too to make sure the employees know what they are supposed to be doing. She also, if she had a problem with it, should have mentioned something before. Seems like the manager is more useless, as she lets things go and build up, rather than nipping it in the bud early.

And that all assumes that the manager was right. Seems to me the girl at the counter gave you stellar customer service - it`s rare to see that these days, especially in the morning (I assume it`s morning, as you mentioned breakfast)

Thanks to all who have taken the time out to reply.

I agree the Manager was the useless one. The person who served me was great. Don`t you find that individuals are often given Managers roles with no or little training and support?

Thanks.

Andrew

Yes, and it`s really sad - in fact it`s scaldalous - but it happens a lot.  Just because someone is good at their job doesn`t mean they`ll instinctively know how to get someone else to do that job for them.

You would think a big corporation (I`m assuming it`s a big corporation as it`s a "world famous eatery") would know better.

The manager`s boss is the really useless one!

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