Customer Service*
Q: How do you foster
the idea of respect in the College?
In 1906 Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, exposed
the corporate greed that created unsanitary and dangerous situations in the
food industry. To fight for better
sanitary conditions for our food, the pure food and drug act was passed that
the FDA was created. Hopefully, the
country and the industry improved.
We still have not learned how to eliminate greed, waste, lust
for power and theft. In an ideal
organization controls would be created to improve and expand the organization
and its goals not waste time preventing progress. People need the tools and the
authority to do their jobs.
We are all descended from the same source and if you destroy
one human being it is as if you have destroyed the entire world. This is the conceptual basis for finding
holiness within every human being. Their role in the College does not matter.
No one has a right to disrespect the tenure status, rank, or, practices of
another member of the College community.
Proper respect can be very hard to practice. Some aspects of interpersonal relations are
learned as a maturing process. Other
aspects are learned in the academic preparation and training for the job. Because not everyone is on the same level,
the more mature people have to deal with the less mature and less knowledgeable. People in the helping professions have to be
particularly careful about what they say in speech and writing. Four important aspects of respect include: respect
for one’s self, respect for others, respect for the forms of life and the
environment that sustains them, and respect for principles, rules and traditions.
The key is respect for one’s self. If you don’t believe in yourself, it is hard
to get others to believe in you.
While this may sound like a faith based argument it is
grounded in the psychology of how people feel and the sociology of groups. Groups can become teams when the goals are
clear and there is respect for people and ideas. One must be very careful with how words are
used because they are difficult to recall. One academic process is textual
analysis. People will read into the
words of others what they think is the intention. Even when the speaker had another intention,
a lack of respect and mis-understanding can lead to confusion. One could say something absolutely true, but
not answer the question.
Respect is a way of honoring others and appreciating their
role in our team. It costs no money to
do it right, but lack of respect can lead to economic difficulties.
Q: What is the role
customer service in your college?
In the hospitality, travel and food industries customer
service is their prime way to win and keep loyal customers. There is an ample
supply of outlets and someone could easily go to the next place, rather than
spend money in your place. Their workers
are trained to be nice even when on the inside they feel lousy and want to
yell, “You stupid X#@%!”
My colleague who teaches students to be librarians has
components to the reference classes concerning how to deal with patrons.
Librarians have to look upon themselves as if they are playing a role. The role is to be nice, try to help everyone,
and be aware that no one knows everything.
The librarian has to answer with a smile even when it is the tenth
person this hour who needs help with computer printers. 10% of the students at the College pass through
the library doors every day. The
librarians meet more students in a day than any other department except during
registration week. When in the library,
the librarians and their staff are providers and the students and faculty are
the customers.
Internal departments are the providers for other
departments. For example human resources
has to keep track of all people, make sure they are oriented to the College, inform
them of the benefits, etc. It was a long
struggle for my predecessor to teach them good customer service. For a long time they had this snobby attitude
that seems to say, “Where else are you going to go for help?” In learning about my predecessor, I came
across many complaints concerning how HR did not treat faculty and staff with
respect. They addressed people
disrespectfully. They addressed full
professors as “Mr. XYZ” instead of “Dr. XYZ.”
In the classroom we do not tolerate disrespect, but HR did not have a
culture of common courtesy. HR was quick
to shift blame instead of trying to solve problems. In the retail trade, staff
are taught to apologize and figure out solutions. In our classrooms we teach students how to
solve problems not make them.
The head of HR did not foster team work and
cooperation. He accused part-time
faculty of mistakes and short comings that were really problems with the HR computer
systems. He never acknowledged that he
did not know everything. He created more
problems than he solved. We lost some
excellent teachers because of his mishandling of their paperwork. Luckily for me the person left the College
five years before I even started, but I still hear of his misdeeds.
There is also a practical side to being nice and
helpful. I have hired former students
because I respected their abilities and attitudes. Once before I learned this
lesson of being nice because you never know when the other person will be on
the other side of the desk, I said the wrong thing in the wrong place to
someone. I was a computer salesman. I walked into an office and one of the people
there was a parent of a student we had in school at my part-time teaching
job. I barely remembered the student,
but I remembered how much grief this nasty, inconsiderate mother caused for me
and the administration. I was not even
meeting with this mother, but I must have said something concerning how I knew
her to the president of the company. I
did not get the sale. I am sure that I
spoke the truth, but people don’t always want the whole truth.
I did learn as a salesman to try and find where the customer
is, what s/he wants, and try to find what is best. Sometimes they still went against my advice
and came back to me and asked (rhetorically), “Why didn’t I listen to
you?” When I make large, expensive
purchases I want the sales staff to work with and solve my problems or I’ll
take my business elsewhere. Recently the
college purchased a new class management system that helps to keep track
students, faculty, grades, space and resources from one common interface. The program saves us hours of trying to
schedule people and places. There are
very few vendors of systems like this.
During the vendor presentations we all had to be very cordial even when
going in we had favorites. One vendor
said that our users would not need any training because the already knew the
current system and the new system is intuitive.
. I was ready to yell “Are you
that arrogant you think new users will be able to figure out all the features
of the new system without training? “ I held my tongue and only talked about my
opinion with the committee. They agreed.
The second vendor said two weeks of full time training is
offered for your key personnel and they will train the rest of the staff. The second vendor offered materials, videos,
and other forms of continuing support and training. We went with the second vendor even though
the purchase price was higher; the value was worth every dollar.
This returns to respect. A person who does not respect him/herself does
not know how to treat others with respect.
They have to be taught. I insist that
all my supervisors and department heads to include training in customer service
for all new staff. I never want to hear
such statements as, “Ms. XYZ is not part of the College. She only teaches part-time.” Everyone is valuable, no matter how much or
how little time is spent on campus.
Q: Thank you very much.
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*Part seventeen of an
imaginary interview with the president of the College. Note this is
just for your information and edification. Any connection to a real college
president is strictly coincidental.
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