When Was Armadillo Willy Taught Me Wrong

Employees were taught to disregard disgruntled patrons and move through the line as fast as possible so that each patron would be served in a timely and satisfying fashion. Just as a machine would pull items in at the beginning of the assembly line and throw them out at the other end of the line, so did the employees treat the patrons of their establishment. This is achieved by calling them to the counter and filling their order then sending them on their way with a kind, almost sarcastic, "Thank you, have a nice day!"

It is always important to think back to the Buddhist and Stoic beliefs about thinking clearly and working through emotions (Lukianoff and Haidt 6). The college students mentioned in “The Coddling of the American Mind,” need to learn these crucial principles in order to live a life where they can positively overcome discomfort and offendedness. People need not be punished for causing minor emotional inconveniences. Once cognitive

You can de-escalate a tense situation with ease and grace—working through a tough issue or bug with an upset customer not only doesn’t scare you, it’s a challenge you’re eager to take

Tell me about a time you had to go beyond your comfort zone and personal limits to satisfy an unhappy customer.

Listen fully to what the customer is saying. Try to gather all the facts about the complaint and write them down. Ask questions and summarise what that are saying.

I chose to order a salad and an entrée that normally required silverware to eat. This way I could be sure that I was blatantly violating the social norm. Once I got my salad and started eating it with my hands I instantly drew quizzical glances from many people in the restaurant, and even harsher reactions from my peers I was sitting with. My peers, who were horrified that I would ever embarrass them in this kind of public setting gave me harsh words of criticism and told me to act my age. Other diners had changed their quizzical looks to scorns. Along with the initial berating, I also had my plate taken away from me by my peers since I could apparently not be trusted to behave appropriately. The meal continued and I was served my entrée, which was fish and rice. After eating my appetizer with my hands our table had gathered the attention of several customers and staff at the restaurant. Once I started to eat with my hands for the second time the reaction from those around me was much swifter and harsher. Not only did my peers scorn me, but I also received criticism by other people dinning near our table. The third time I tried to eat with my hands I was approached by a management member of the staff and told that I would need to leave if I continued

In an encounter during high school with a teacher’s aide that used derogatory words and said something hateful about gay people, I was conflicted by my respect for authority and my belief in standing up for one’s own values. I had to be respectful and handle it in a different way than I would with my peers. My teacher in the room didn’t know how to properly handle the situation, despite him being a compassionate person. I was left feeling alone in a situation where I should have received additional help.

When we got some problems, such as customer complains. For example, one customer ordered one fish & chips. The special order from that customer was no chill, but one front staff didn’t mention it to us. So we served it normally than the customer complained it. We told the staff who got that order to apology to the customer. We offered one soup to the customer during waiting new fish & chips. As result of that the customer accepted our prompted acts.

They expect me to be patient, clear with orders, not demanding, and aware of what is going on. I must know what food they just told me was done and where to take it, but first I need to pay attention to hear when my name is called. There is usually more tension between the kitchen and waiters than there is with any other workers. The roles are so different. The kitchen staff usually looks at servers as just wanting to get a good tip, and that we do not care the extremities the kitchen has to go to for us. It is important that servers respect the kitchen staff; they are in charge of the food we will be serving. “Servers, as mediators, need their food when their customers demand it: sometimes this is before the food is ready; at other times after. If servers demand food too early, cooks are stressed; but if they don’t pick up the food on time, the food is poor and the cook seems incompetent.” (Fine 105). This is the most true on Friday and Saturday nights. Everything seems to be more chaotic on these nights, since most people decide to go out. This is good because it brings in more business for the restaurant, but then there are always more unhappy customers on these nights as well. Overall, positive interaction with the kitchen staff can make amazing things happen.

smile, give eye contact, make sure everything was in the customer’s bag, make sure they received the proper change (if any) and make sure I gave them a receipt. Most of the time, the atmosphere was relaxed but could become busy during special promotion times. I enjoyed my time at the restaurant chain because management was always available and the employees were pleasant.

Perhaps, it was because I did not realize that the actions they took were the form of discrimination. Prior to reading a chapter which discusses about discrimination, I always thought that discrimination only included extreme threats or violence towards a certain group of people. As none of the actions students and my teacher took were extreme form of discrimination, I chose not to include the word, “discrimination”, in my story. By having my peers commenting on my personal narrative, I reassured to myself that those actions students and teachers took were discriminatory. Additionally, as I read the textbook it gave a clear explanation of what discrimination means by stating,“[a]cts of discrimination can include ignoring, avoiding, excluding, ridicule, jokes, slander, threats, and violence” ( DiAngelo & Sensoy, 2012, p. 32). Looking back to the first incidence, where my peers were moving their tables away from mine due to the cultural food I brought, I now know that they were discriminating against the cultural food I ate by excluding me in their group. For the second incidence where they were ridiculing my name, it would also be a form of discrimination as students were name-calling, turning my name into an inappropriate

Under the same principle, I also liked the part about paralysis by analysis. The manager encouraged employees to deal with customer complaints on the spot as opposed to finding him to determine what to do. He did this in order to not make matters worse and to allow the employees to take the initiative to solve the problems. I have worked as a waitress for over nine years in many various restaurants. In each one, in similar situations, the servers were to get the manager immediately. I often wound up in trouble for trying to calm the customers before running to the managers. Yes, I will admit that sometimes it did nothing to rectify the situation. But many times a simple apology and explanation solved everything. The managers would throw free food toward anyone who complained. My way was much simpler and cheaper! Sometimes people make mistakes. Giving people the opportunity to fix the problem on their own not only gives people the satisfaction of making a bad situation good, but it gives people a sense of leadership.

Finally, the clock says 8:55. Only five more minutes until your eight hour shift, which honestly felt more like twelve, is over. The store looks perfect and all of the housekeeping chores are taken care of. As you are walking to lock the front door, a large family comes rushing in asking if the store is closed. With a fake smile plastered on your face, you tell them the store closes in less than five minutes, so they promise to be quick. Now their kids are running around and the parents are ripping apart the T-shirts you just folded. Being polite and helpful in these situations is hard, and all you want to do is tell them to get out. Customer service is important, but it can sometimes be a challenge. Still, there are a few key steps to giving good customer service that can ensure that the customers will have a positive experience while shopping with the company.

“Look I am the customer and it is your job to give me what I am ordering”

By examining the use of the ‘LEARN Model’ to settle guest complaints by using the 5 elements of Listening, Empathy, Apology, Reaction and Notification.