Customer Unfocused Service

My apologies to regular Spacetropic readers who have been unable to access the site. In the past few months I have had sudden, unexpected outages with my hosting plan. Lately the company I use, VizaWeb, has been unreliable. While they have been making an effort to improve their customer service it's still frustrating to have my site inaccessible for hours at a time on several occasions each month.

Many in corporate America are enthusiastic about delivering exceptional customer service. I think it offers a psychological relief from the relentless focus on profitability and hockey-stick growth. Certainly retaining customers probably means something more than offering the best price (or getting the server back up again) but these concepts don't translate well into the trench-warfare of daily operational business.

Even in when a company has a plan to deliver customer service, employees lack the basic skills necessary to understand simple courtesy or common sense. The following is a true story, from when I recently visited the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. I was waiting very patiently in line behind a woman who was speaking to the clerk at the counter.

Clerk (interrupting the woman and looking over her shoulder at me): Yes, can I help you?
Me: I'm here to pick up a prescription.
Clerk (impatiently): Well, I'm busy helping this customer. I'll be with you in a minute.

Just think about that. Another true story, from the post office:

USPS Worker: May I help who's next?
Me: I think I'm next. I'd like to buy some stamps please.
USPS Worker: Hang on. One thing at a time.

I am working on my gentleness and congeniality towards others. But everyday exchanges like this have me worried that the human race is increasingly being overrun by boneheads. I lament the fact that jobs are outsourced overseas. During my last transaction purchasing Delta Airline tickets on the telephone it sounded like I was speaking to someone from India. He said his name was 'Peter Parker' - which seemed oddly insulting. And the process was breathtakingly slow, as he clacked away on a keyboard for several minutes between questions. But at least he was polite and the conversation followed a sensible pattern.

I don't rant often. Vizaweb ticked me off.