Articles

Work Environments Matter – Part 2

Jana M. Kemp

Take another look around your office and retail spaces. What messages are you sending to employees and customers regarding your level of care for their well-being? The messages sent may be intentional or accidental. Consider these customer-oriented stories from two weeks of travel.

While in Seattle, where of course it rains quite a bit, I discovered umbrella bags in a department store. As you come in the door by the concierge desk, you can pick up a large or small umbrella bag to keep yourself dry. The store also benefits from the bags because merchandise doesn’t get drenched by umbrella-drying drips.

On the same trip I was reminded of the vast difference in the restaurant wait-staff customer service levels between the Treasure Valley and other cities. In Seattle at lunch in a booth for four, I noticed how our waitress re-filled water glasses making sure that her arm never interfered with our conversation. In Boise, I’ve been amazed when wait-staff who have access to all sides of the table reach right in front of people rather than walking around the table to discreetly fill each water glass. In San Francisco, I’ve been amazed at how well my water glass remains filled without my ever having to ask for more.

In the Treasure Valley, at several restaurants, wait-staff members have repeatedly asked to take my plate when I wasn’t finished. Other city wait-staff members have been trained to not ask to take a person’s plate until a universal signal of “I’m done” has been noticed or until it really looks like someone is done. In Boise, at one eating establishment where I’d been asked by three people about 10 times whether my plate could be taken, I finally said “when my knife and my fork are together across the middle of my plate, that is the signal that I am done and you can clear my plate.” Sit-down restaurant owners, please train your staff members to provide better service so that the Treasure Valley can claim a long list of excellent eating establishments.

Baker City, Oregon’s Geiser Grand Hotel provided a paper cloth I haven’t seen before. In the bathroom basket of soaps, at the bottom was a paper cloth that said “Please use this cloth to remove make-up or to clean your glasses or shoes.” Designed to keep bath towels from getting overly soiled, the paper cloth is a great idea. However, I didn’t find it until I was about to check out. Better placement would have been on the sink’s mirror-ledge with a bar of soap on it so that I would have found the “tool” at the start.

Action Plan: Do one thing this week to improve your retail space and service for customers. Make weekly improvements for a whole quarter and you’ll have a better place to work and shop.
__
Reprint Permission: The author is willing to grant reprint permissions. Please contact Jana Kemp: jana@janakemp.com or call 208-367-1701.