Susanne Dansey’s Blog

I’ve decided, ‘thank you’ and ’sorry’ are expensive words…

During my run today, I spent time thinking about the week ahead and what I needed to do. Taking time out on my own to run or simply sit by the river gives me my space to focus and clear down a few things that build up in my mind. Some of the ideas I got in my head got me cutting my run short to go home and do something about them. So I popped into the supermarket on the way back to collect a few things before settling in to another day of glorious World Cup rugby with a dash of laptopping.

Walking round a supermarket weaving round people in a world of their own and wincing as the rugrats think it’s funny to call the town’s dogs to heel with their high pitched screams (never firm favourites of mine) was starting to annoy me, so standing in the checkout queue was high on my ‘whoopeedo’ list, not.

I was third in line, and after taking a quick scan of the queues thought I had found one of the quicker ones. The lady at the front was standing there obviously waiting for the till manager to come to her with what I thought might be a replacement item. It appeared she had been waiting there for some time and the till assistant smiled awkwardly at the lady in front of me. You could see he felt uncomfortable as he didn’t want to move his customer on but was hesitating over whether he should serve the next lady.

As I checked over my food and made sure I had everything, the ladies’ tutting and ‘well this really isn’t good enough’ got louder and the assistant shifted uncomfortably again.

Another girl who was waiting to replace the till assistant next to mine stared blankly at something as she daydreamed. The tutting ladies in front of me tried to gain her distanced stare to request some help. Our assistant cottoned on but he nudged her too late as his neighbour had logged out to be replaced.

Not that I would have wanted to get in the way of a prized cigarette break or tea-time snack, but the former assistant just got up, shrugged her shoulders at the situation and walked off.

Until then I was quite happy to be patient.

I had a discussion at the weekend with a friend and we decided that you shouldn’t be in a job if you don’t like it. There is no point sticking a job just because you don’t know what else is out there that could otherwise potentially fulfill the majority of your working hours better. I’m not saying that every hour of my job is a ball but I love the challenge, the variation, and I know that the highs far outweigh the lows. But there are some people who think they are doing their employers the favour.

By now, the lady in front of me was over dramatising her ‘I’m looking at my watch a lot to show you I have other places to be than in a queue with you Mr. Till Assistant’ and asked to be served whilst the other lady continued to manage the role of chief tutter.

Another member of staff came over to help the now drowning with indecision assistant. By then, I had worked out we were all now waiting for two wine carriers. She didn’t know where they were either and shrugged as she walked off. Great…

The wine laden woman now decided to do a bit of pointing and with a big sigh said ‘oh I suppose I’ll have to use plastic bags’ (oh! the sacrifice!) when another member of the staff came over with some carriers. Not only that, she brought some spares for the withering assistant so that he didn’t have to withstand another tut attack.

Both ladies cleared off together. No thank you. No eye contact. Just barging their way out of the store taking their frustration out by bashing  their trolleys into others. They even mowed down two screaming kids - it got very messy.

No they didn’t.

But don’t tell me you don’t think it when you reach to your ear to check for blood the next time someone’s little cherub takes a big inhale of breath before belting out a magnificent scream.

So it’s my turn to be served and I do what I always do. I say hello and smile.

For me, the last thing this guy wants is to have another banshee hassle him, so I make the effort because I want some back. In fact, he’d already started to pack for me and as I got ready to pack the bags myself, he apologised and said ‘hello’ with a smile and asked if I wanted help packing.

He’d regained his composure and got back into the sales pitch. Good man.

It didn’t take long to pack, and as he handed me my receipt and card I thanked him. He thanked me too and wished me a lovely day. I think he meant it!

We all have bad days at work. This guy didn’t moan or tut back in response to the way he was treated (they moaned a lot at him even though he was doing his best) and he didn’t act like a jobsworth in my view and didn’t take his bad experience out on me.

He didn’t get a thank you from those ladies because three of his colleagues did a bad job at at serving them.

In my recent presentations to the Community, I talked about managing feedback from customers which is based on the word ‘blast’.

B = Believe

L = Listen

A = Apologise

S = Satisfy

T = Thank

I didn’t see any of them do this, and it was my till assistant who, after everything that had happened, said thank you to those ladies who ignored him.

Thank you’s and apologies work both ways. Just because you need customers to get business, doesn’t mean the customers should be unreasonable or rude. Most of us wouldn’t have been telling our career teachers that we wanted to pick gum off the street, but someone has to do it even if they don’t like it. We should be grateful and realise that this is an important job even if not many of us would want it. Thing is, these types of low-skilled jobs are easier to fill even if it isn’t going to get you up the career ladder and in charge of a big corporation.

It’s when you find someone in a job that you know many others would be happy to have. I’ve met people in what should really be very exciting roles turn to me and say ‘it’s not my job’ or ‘I haven’t got time’ when I suggest they do a little outside reading to broaden their minds and enthuse them more. What a shame. What a waste of time. I have also met a few employers who look at their staff and think ‘wouldn’t it be great to start over again’. Sorry guys, that cloning machine still hasn’t been made yet!

The till assistant was great actually. I heard him having a good chat with the customers behind me as I left. He could have taken that wine carrier experience negatively and taken it out on the people around him. But he didn’t; he made the most of his time. Those who moan about their jobs or waste their day trying to avoid working are wasting their times as well as others. The challenge for employers is to work out why they are like this. Can they fix it? Do they have to reposition these people into better suited roles. Do they have to take more drastic action?

I find it’s always good to spend some 1:1 time with those people who don’t seem to be firing on all cylinders and try and find what motivates them in life. Usually we end up talking about what excites them personally. If it’s something I can learn from and find ways to translate it into their day job, then it’s really good to see how quickly things get better.

What happens if that till assistant was greeted by me with a frown and a tut to top all tuts? What happens if he got that all day from all of his customers? How should his employer try and balance out his job so he gets more good experiences than bad? I would suggest the employer trained his colleagues better to start with…

Businesses don’t just rest on one person. Everyone plays a part in the way it is shaped even if you are a one-man-band (family, friends, bank manager!). Make sure even your receptionist answers the office phone correctly and not with a ‘what?’ or midway through a joke. Everyone in your company markets your business, anyone who does something that isn’t part of publicised ethos are just leaving the door wide open for criticism.