They Can't See You...

The Industry is going BACK to phone support which is great considering there is a war on cars nowadays...

However, people have lost the art of communication due to the texting junkies of the digital age...

When you are on the phone you can't hashtag something and you can't send an emoji while you are using the conventional telephone to telephone type connection...

So it helps that you use, wait for it...w-o-r-d-s, used from your, wait for it...m-o-u-t-h...

It's a new concept to Millennials and has never been tried before and of course the X-Gen and Baby Boomers think that this knowledge is inherited somehow just by birth...

nonononono, they have to be taught all over again, second verse same as the first sort of cliché...

Example: We ordered a to go order by, wait for it...p-h-o-n-e, which is not commonly used to much anymore considering that you can just order online...

Fortunately we have worked in computers long enough to know that these sites aren't secure, neither is wireless so on and so forth, so phone is the safest bet...

sidenote: NSA might be listening ;-)

Anyway...so we noticed that while we were giving the order they weren't repeating it back to us, and with digital phone technology without this you think you've lost connection because digital is so clear...

People can't see you nodding on the phone, nor can they see you pressing digital keys on a kiosk either and there is no eye to eye contact to reaffirm that they are listening to you...

So it's real simple: all you have to do is say one little tiny word, wait for it...o-k-a-y...

Example: Yes I would like the XYZ Burger, okay, and fries, okay and a drink...okay...

Remember we have to start simple, baby steps so stick with just getting an okay out of them at first and then once they've mastered that move on to some adjectives and conjunction phrases...

Example: Yes I would like the XYZ Burger, Good Choice, would you like fries with that, I sure would, I would also like a drink with that as well, sounds good...

You then follow up by repeating the order to them to make sure you got the right order, that way you don't look stupid when the customer comes in expecting something else...

In time you'll learn how to UP sell them while they are giving their order, but let's not move too fast, just start with the okay for now and let's see how you do, okay...

**FOLLOWUP**

You can always tell when someone has been in an industry too long or they just don't like what they are doing...

We don't blame the millennials for how they turned out because they are a product of their environment and they are just the result, remember, there is no such thing as a bad student, just bad teachers...

Another problem that people have been taught is that if you're having a bad day they spread that bad day on anyone that comes in contact with them...

We don't understand this and never have understood this trait in people, but we see it quite often and maybe the server/bartender that brought us our order was having a bad day...

First of all there was no smile, just a chin up with a curious look on their face that resembles the "WhatsUp" emoji or the "How Can I help You" emoji...

No words, just a grimace, pinched nose and piercing eyes, so we told them we were there to pick up a To Go order and they replied, what's the name, but they didn't ask us our name on the phone so we told them we didn't leave a name...

This upset the person, and a sigh came over them, then an even stronger tone followed up by asking, what did you order...

We told them and sure enough our order was ready and the server told us the amount and reached out their hand for our payment...

As they were processing our payment we were looking through the bag to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything and we noticed that they didn't include any ranch dressing, so we asked them could we get some ranch please...

Now this is just icing on the cake of the type of personality we have been working with to begin with and instead of saying, oh, no problem just a second I will get that for you, nonononono, they replied with, that's gonna take awhile...

That's gonna take awhile we thought to ourselves, to get an already portioned out plastic ramekin of ranch dressing from the salad station that all servers have access to...

Little do they know we have extensive knowledge of how restaurants work from the Front of the House all the way to the Administration offices ;-)...

Plus who tells a customer that it's going to take awhile in a restaurant, especially something as frivolous as a side of ranch...

Sure, a well done steak might get the response of that might take awhile, but a side of ranch...

It wasn't until they knew we were leaving when they "finally" smiled and said, have a good day...

In other words, they were more happy that we were leaving then placing the order to begin with which is pretty much every where you go nowadays...

sidenote: Since you see it almost everywhere, it's not worth mentioning the name of this restaurant...

The person that helped us was an X-Gen, not a millennial, so what type of lesson does this teach to a striving up and coming 20 something just getting out into the workforce...

It teaches them how not to treat people, and that just because they're not doing what they want to be doing, doesn't give them the right to treat people with disrespect...

Will we go there again, of course, we love the food and if we have learned one thing from the restaurant business is that you do not piss off the people that handle your food...

...and yes, you still tip them even on a To Go Order, typically 15% because they don't do much work other than putting the ketchup and napkins in the bag, but 20% is not unheard of...

So will we continue to be treated like we do, yeah, because we get our food to go and we can handle just a few moments of their rudeness...

It keeps the skin tight and the responses humble, which is good because most of us have a job to go to and it conditions us for the people we have to work with on a day to day...

If you go around looking at the world in rose colored glasses all the time it's because you've never worked a day in your life...and that's a fact!