Companies should consider the Impact of Employees Exhibiting Poor Customer Service
In 2012 several incidences of offensive comments included on customer receipts by employees of retailers and restaurants were brought to the media's attention throughout the year. As the year comes to a close, a situation that occurred just recently in California again highlighted the issue, but earlier in the year many similar instances had occurred, perhaps indicating this is a growing trend? Or is it perhaps one that has been overlooked by people in the information age?
• Offensive comments on customer receipts
Three women were recently having dinner in a restaurant located in Stockton, Calif. At the conclusion of their meal they noticed an employee of the Cameo Club Casino owned restaurant hadadded the comment"Fat Girls" in the customer description area of the receipt.
The trio of women who had dined at the restaurant were shocked when they saw the indication on the receipt they had been given, initially thinking the friend that looked at the receipt was making a joke and that this possibly could not have really happened.
But it did, and it is not the first time this year either. At least two other offensive receipt comments made the media this year. InJanuary 2012, the pizza chain Papa John's came under fire after an employee wrote a racial slur on one customer's receipt. The comment, "lady chinky eyes" was shared through social and traditional media, going viral.
Later on in the year, another customer received an offensive comment on her RadioShack receipt which stated, "ugly itch, ghettohood, usa, tattoville, Maryland." RadioShack lost a customer that day and reportedly, at the time the woman involvedreportedlywould not even take calls from corporate management to offer an apology.
• Poor customer service
Clearly, these three instances are examples of poor customer service, not to mention terrible treatment of a fellow person. While the corporations that own the companies have all expressed they do not condone what said employees did and have made very public apologies, it is still a negative reflection on their respective brands.
And apparently this type of occurrence is not limited to these three brands, they just happened to be the businesses that got a lot of media publicity. AsGawker reports, several people wrote in and shared their experiences of shocking, insulting or bizarre comments left by employees of various companies on receipts, including one employee who offered himself as a "one-night stand".
While many businesses are striving to have great customer service in the increasing age of competition, this "trend" clearly indicates there is a problem with some people understanding even the most basic concepts of what encompasses good customer service.
And companies should be paying attention, as employees can not only potentially damage the brand's reputation by typing in offensive comments on receipts, it can lead to potential lawsuits.News 10reported the California girls are considering a lawsuit and have retained counsel. News 10 also reported a California steakhouse settled a federal lawsuit after an employee had made a racial slur.
• A trend of the technology age?
Have these kinds of comments been occurring over the years and just noticed, or is it that this "trend" is was born from the creation of computer generated receipts? Before computers, these kinds of comments would have stood out if an employee handwrote the comment, but with typed out receipts that have all sorts of numbers, codes and other information, could it be that chances are some employees think they can sandwich offensive comments in without notice?
Clearly, people do notice as evidenced by the incidents reported in the media, but this gives pause to think how often this type of behavior occurs and people perhaps do not look carefully at their receipt and these types of comments go left unnoticed?
However, with media attention in 2012 given to these types of occurrences, chances are people will be paying more attention.
