Another rant

Disclaimer: If you are tired of reading about my rants on customer service regarding my name then you should quit reading now.

I’ve written before about how the bank branch that I typically use always wants to send me on my way with a “Thank you, Rhonda.” I usually correct them when they do that and thank them when they say Rhoda. In fact once a teller did it correctly, and when I thanked her she kind of laughed and said, “I’ve been corrected on it before so I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

On Friday I went to a different branch and the teller said my name correctly (remember I don’t need my name said—they are not my friends so I really feel it is a false familiarity that they use my name anyway), and I complimented her on it.

Yesterday I kept getting a call from an unknown number so I ignored it twice and then finally answered it last night. It was a survey from the bank regarding my last visit which was to the branch I’d never been to before. I’ve done this survey several times and typically I complain that they can’t get my first name correct and if they add an extra letter to my name would they just please add a “0” before the decimal in my deposit instead. I was all prepared to tell them how I was rating this branch so highly since they got my name right, and when we got to the end of the survey after just having questions with responses such as excellent, good, not good, bad and there was not comment section I asked. Don’t you want to know why I had such a good experience? The surveyor, who I realize was just working off a script and didn’t really care about my answers as he just got paid for finishing a certain number of surveys, said, “I guess not. There’s no place for comments.”

Yesterday I ran an errand at lunch at lunch and stopped at the Speedway for a drink. The clerk pulled off my rewards program slips (I’ve earned another free drink!) and said, “Thank you Rhoda.” I complimented her on getting the name correct and told her what really good customer service it is to get a person’s name correct and that it’s very important to people. As I walked out I thought of what I should have done. I wish I would’ve just said really loudly, “Where’s a manager?” When the manager came over I would have said, “I just want you to know that this girl gave me really good customer service, and I’m coming back here because of her. She’s a great clerk, and I want you and her to know it,” turned around and walked off. Well, I probably would sneak a glance to see them pick their jaws up off the floor.

I did a similar thing at Red Robin. I asked the server for the manager, and I could see her mind churning with what she could’ve done wrong. The manager came over and the server stood apart trying to appear as if she was doing something else but obviously want to know what the “problem” was. I pointed to her and told the manager and said, “She is a great server. She has been prompt with serving us, she remembered any special things we asked for, she has been pleasant, and she’s been attentive without being overbearing. She’s the kind of server you want to keep. Please make sure she knows this.” (knowing she had already heard it) It was obvious he didn’t get many positive comments, and I’m glad I could make both of their days.