Customer Service

In the last couple weeks, I have been trained for two "customer service" positions.

At Express they emphasize how we need to "do what's right for the customer." We need to assess their clothing needs and aid them into and out of the fitting rooms with the appropriate items, sizes and colors. If we're nice to them and provide a good shopping experience then they will leave happy and have a better day and come back later to see their new good friends at Express.

Bullshit.

That's all trashy, trashy propaganda sent down to the menial wage workers on the selling floor from corporate offices where the only concern is stock prices and amounts of sold merchandise. They know that if people are happy, they spend more. That makes them richer. And so through my labor figuring out peoples' sizes and rehanging endless piles of rejected clothing (compensated at a measly six dollars an hour), these high-up people-in-suits gain privileges in life. Like the privilege of owning a new BMW every year and a house with eight walk-in closets. But ah...first I have to be nice to the customer.

At Wells Fargo, they teach us at "Base Camp" that our primary goal is not to be a financial institution. We are not here to be everyone's banker first. Our company aims not at making money or increasing its customer base. No. Wells Fargo's first line of business is in trust. We are a company of trust. People must trust us before they will give us their business, and that begins with the people they see the most - the tellers. A teller must act as the primary line of defense for each customer against fraud and as the first line of communication from the company. We want them to know us, like us and trust us. If we know them we can help them to have a better day simply by being nice to them and providing them with a good banking experience.

Bullshit.

Once more...When people are happy, they spend more money. You trust people who are nice to you, even if they're scamming you because you're so enthralled with the fact that they're being nice to you that you don't stop to think that this nice person could be doing bad things with you or your money.

My new theory is that "customer service" is something created by corporations to ensure fat paychecks on top. I receive zero compensation by being nice to customers, really. They try the intrinsic reward system...You know..."You will feel better about your job when you know your customer's name." "You will enjoy working here more if you are personally invested."

"Customer service" is fake. I can be the nicest person to a customer even when I've had a shitty day, my feet hurt and I just want to go home. I'm lying to them by being nice, really.

I'm sick of everyone making such a big deal out of "customer service" because it's simply a ploy by big businesses to get the little guys to work harder for them. All the mall employees and servers in this nation could stop caring and just be themselves at work and people would still shop and eat out. When you deal with people in those situations, it's not so much the "customer service" that matters as much as it is how well you can handle the stress of said positions and the myriad ways people treat you like crap. Personal survival with a paycheck as the outcome. Nothing more.