The CityBusiness Blog

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

Picture this:

You walk into a fast-food restaurant and the cashier greets you with a smile. He or she seems happy to be at work, and gladly takes your order. If you are not sure what you want to order, the cashier is patient and polite and tells you to take your time. Finally, the worker apologizes for any wait and genuinely thanks you as your order is handed to you.

This kind of scenario seems to be harder to come by these days, doesn’t it?

In fact, fast food should be renamed “rude food,” because that more aptly describes the experience.

Businesses, are you listening? Customer service stinks.

Fast-food workers seem to be the worse offenders. I become infuriated every time I go to a McDonald’s near my house. When I use the drive-through, someone takes my order and then barks out the cost and tells me to drive around. I am never told thank you. Never. The person who hands me my food usually has a sour look on his or her face, a look that says, “I hate my job.”

Sure, there are many reasons for fast-food workers to dislike their jobs: The pay is low. Customers can be obnoxious and rude. And it’s not exactly uplifting to know that you flip burgers for a living.

But is it so hard to say “please” and “thank you”? Remember, they are the “magic words.”

To be fair, customer service is not bad everywhere. There are times when you come across a polite fast-food worker or a polite cashier at Target or Wal-Mart.  But those experiences seem to be few and far between.

It seems bad customer service has infected every industry. Grumpy, self-loathing workers are not just isolated to city halls and drive-through windows. They are sometimes the receptionists charged with answering the phones, usually the first person the public comes in contact with when dealing with a business.

Is there a way for the public to bring about excellent customer service? Maybe. Maybe not.

Perhaps we need to “vote with our feet,” as they say. When customer service is bad, we should tell the manager on duty. We should not frequent stores and restaurants where we feel unwanted.

Wait a minute. I think I’ve figured out why online shopping is so popular: No rude cashiers to deal with.

(Illustration by Deon Roberts)

By Deon Roberts, Online Editor

As for customer service, there’s always room for improvement at New Orleans City Hall.

I’ve been a reporter in New Orleans for nearly five years. So, I’ve had many interactions with City Hall staff in various departments.

To be fair, some are very helpful. They treat you warmly, call you baby and actually smile. Others will ignore you or, worse, be flat out rude. They seem to be miserable to be at work and want to make you miserable, too.

But bad attitudes are only one form of bad customer service coming out of City Hall. Bad customer service can also be found on the city’s Web site.

In his column this week, CityBusiness Publisher Mark Singletary pointed out that one page of the city’s Web site lists only fax numbers for various divisions of the Department of Public Works. But they are not labeled as fax numbers. So, when you call them, expecting to get a person or answering machine on the other end, you instead get an earful of that painful, annoying faxing sound.

I hate that.

This is not good customer service. Why list only fax numbers for the maintenance and parking divisions and construction and traffic engineering? Better yet, why not label them as fax numbers so callers won’t get blasted with that awful noise?

Bad customer service is bad for business. Everybody knows that.

The city needs to take a closer look at its Web site. We need to make it easier for businesses and residents to get in touch with City Hall.

What about you? Have you had bad experiences with customer service at City Hall or on the city’s Web site? I want to hear your gripe. Leave a comment.