A Resurrection, If You Will.

Well, long time...eh? What a crazy and wonderful few months it has been. I am happy to say that I have evolved from a place of self-deprecation, to a place of almost full contentedness. That being said, I am hear to complain. Over my time in "the business" (whatever business that may be...) I have learned one thing above all else: Customer Service. If your customer is not happy, neither are you. Now, I'm not necessarily a believer in the old adage "the customer is always right." However, I do believe that the customer always deserves the courtesy of an explanation.

This story is not to shred the dignity of a well-known pharmacy chain, it is merely to comment on the societal pressure put on menial employees to produce, versus the thought of customer service and self-satisfaction. This evening, I left work at 5:30pm. My normal travel time home is roughly 20 minutes. On my way home this evening, I had to stop to pick a prescription from a pharmacy that I use regularly. Now, this isn't the first time I've had an issue and I'm sure (unfortunately) it won't be the last. Today, I received three separate "courtesy" calls informing me that my medication was ready for pick up. When I arrived, I waited in line for about fifteen minutes and was then told that my prescription was not only NOT ready, but wouldn't be ready until January 30th. I was told I could pay for a partial dosage until that day came. I said "no problem," and asked how long it would take. "Five minutes," I was told. After sitting there for about twenty minutes, I started to glare at the pharmacist. I noticed that my stares of anger, and my head shakes of disdain were going unnoticed. During my plea for attention, I received a fourth "courtesy" call letting me know that my prescription was ready. That was the last straw. I had enough. I went up to the counter and simply asked when my prescription will be ready, and informed her that I just received another phone call (yes, while sitting in the pharmacy) about the positive status of my prescriptions whereabouts. Without answering, she turned to who I'm assuming is her superior, and just looked at him. Before I could even open my mouth, I was being scolded for questioning their employee's actions. Needless to say, a verbal altercation ensued.

Now, my point of this little anecdote is not to get my frustration out in writing (although, it did help). My point is to show that majority of situations that we deal with, be in on a professional level or a personal level, can be avoided. How many times have you gotten off the phone with someone and said "What an asshole?" Imagine what they say about you. I'm not here to preach about the power of kindness. I certainly understand that sometimes, people are really just being nasty for the sake of being nasty. In a situation like mine though, the confrontation could have been avoided by practicing the simple skills behind good customer service. The management (I use that term loosely) was clearly in the same frame of mind as the employee. That's the first problem. To be a successful manager, you have to fully embrace the idea of trying to make each situation work. I would even go as far to say that it's important for everyone to try to make each situation work. In life, we're thrown curveballs. If we're not ready to "make it work," we won't survive. Life is about living, not getting through the day. To me, this dynamic, pharmaceutical duo were unhappy. They wanted to be there about as much as I did.

I think I went off topic somewhere, but it's all good stuff here. The bottom line, if we can't stomach what we're doing enough to do our jobs the right way, we will never be successful. Customer service can only be practiced when we're happy enough to embrace it. I know from experience that if you don't care about what you're doing, you certainly don't care about the customer. Chose your paths carefully. Enjoy yourself, so you can enjoy others and they can enjoy you.