When did we lose our manners?

As customers we often complain about the level of service we receive from people we are trying to spend money with.  How many times have you ever thought about how we interact with those providers and whether or not our manners and the way we interact with providers actually leads to our own bad service?

My wife recently read the article below and instantly called me knowing it would appeal to me and guess what? She was right.  I was shocked by what some of these people were having to put up with then it got me thinking – when did we lose our manners?  And does this loss of manners of ours as customers actually lead us to recieving bad service simply because of how we have treated the other person in the first place?  Have a read of the article here  it’s OK I’ll wait….

Now thats a simple example of bad manners right?  Some customers think it’s OK to treat certain service providers in this manner (I heard a quote that said watch how someone treats a waiter in a restaraunt and if they are rude to the waiter then they are not a nice person) whether it’s because they think they are better than them or they are just busy and not thinking, but have you ever done it?  How many times have you been juggling multiple things – phone calls, mind busy with other projects or issues, planning or running late – the list is endless and you just haven’t thought or even worse stopped and taken the split second to recognise the person on the other side of the counter as a person, someone who is working as hard as we are, someone who is doing their best to give us service only to be blanked by us? Then we go and complain because weren’t treated quite how we wanted to be treated.

Makes you think doesn’t it?

So how about this – for the next few days be aware of how YOU interact with the service providers, maybe take a second to smile and say thank you (and make their day) but more importantly watch how others behave and show their manners….