Workers Are Customers As Well
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Nov 7, 2011
This weekend I went to a tweetup with some local folks just to get together and talk about the conference I just spoke at and to get together in person for awhile. It was a nice time, even if our group was smaller than normal. The next time anyone tells you that it's easier to get people together in the fall rather than in the summer just stare at them and do whatever you wanted to do in the first place.
A few of us decided to go to dinner once things started breaking up so we took a short walk to a restaurant that's gone through many different name changes over the years. It was busy, but then Friday nights are always busy. We had a guy whose name I don't remember right now, and he was friendly, which most food servers these days will be.
I'll own up to this; I tend to be a little fussy about my food. I don't take a lot of chances with what I eat, and there are a lot of things I don't remember as far as what certain foods are. I'm a straight up meat and potatoes guy; throw in something else and I'm going to question it.
So I went into my usual routine, asking questions about all sorts of things I had no knowledge of. However, I use humor to do it because I understand these folks have a tough go of it. I know they deal with some people who won't even attempt to be gracious in their interactions with them. Some people are hard to please. Goodness I'm hard to please, but the waitstaff at restaurants can only control so much.
I always have a good time with people who bring me my food. I work on bringing a smile to their face so they'll treat me right; that plus it's the right thing to do. Some restaurants I go to often, and it's always nice when they already know what I'm going to ask for. It shows I've made what's hopefully a positive impression. And I try to remember their names as well, even though I'm usually bad at names, and they seem to appreciate that also.
People will treat you better if you treat them with respect. People who work for you and with you will react to what you have to say better if you treat them well. This isn't a new principle, but it's one I see so many people forget. When you get it into your mind that you're entitled "just because", you'll ultimately fail in the long run, no matter what it is you do.
Think about how you treat others. If you're not treating them as well as you could be, try something new; be nice. I'll bet you get better responses, and positive feelings, and you'll want to get that feeling as often as you can.
I am the same way….I always try to be nice to cashiers at stores and waiters/waitresses.
They are on their feet all day and a lot of people are NOT very nice.
I hope I leave them with a smile 🙂
Carolee, when a smile doesn’t work money will. lol But I do try to get along well with everyone.
We’re going to have to work on you and your taste in movies Carolee. 🙂
I am quite similar, Mitch. I mean the part treating people, always try to remember names and socializing, even with guys on parking lot. And I am doing this no matter where I am, here is quite easy as I am probably the only tall slim foreigner that know the names of all waitresses in the area.
Carl, I try remembering all the names but I’m just not that good at it. But I remember all the other stuff so that gets me off. And I also treat everyone as nicely as I can; it works wonders.
When I was a bit younger, I didn’t really paid attention, actually I’ve had difficulties to remember names, but very good remembering faces. The turn point was when I tried to help customer management team at one of the previous companies that I worked with. I’ve build a habit to add notes for things that most likely will be forgotten, like birthdays, name of places, etc.
Carl, I’ve tried that. There’s this one restaurant I go to all the time and I’ve started logging their names into my phone. Thing is they have so many people working there that I’ve only been able to remember half of them. I’m working on it though.
See, there are two ways to treat someone working for you (either as a boss-employee relationship or a customer-worker one): the “i am right ’cause i am the boss/customer, so suck it up” or the “sure, i am right, but I am so with class” way. I always prefer to do things classy if I can help 😉
I’m with you on that one Gabriele. I will make people prove themselves to me, but I’ll give them opportunities to prove themselves to me so that I can learn just how much I can trust them with. I’d rather have a fleet of people who know how to make decisions for themselves than having to make those decisions for them all the time.
Yeah, otherwise you probably wouldn’t even need them in first place.