I noticed something when I was walking down the hallways in many hotels that I stay in as part of my travels. Whenever I encounter a worker for the hotel hauling something – be it trash cans, a cart full of other patrons’ clothes, or what not – they would quickly find the widest part of the hallway, and remain as closely to the wall as they can, yielding me more than just unobstructed access.
They do not even need to do that, considering that the hallway is usually wide enough for 3 people to pass. Yet, without fail, they would adopt this behavior. Usually, I would feel good, and be very graceful toward them for taking a moment to yield the space for me, a patron for the hotel.
This is one of the many subtle things that I have noticed as part of the service industry that does an immeasurable amount to make life easier for customers. At the Ritz Carlton, a very upscale hotel chain, employees are trained to say, “My pleasure” when thanked for anything. Saying, “no problem” would indicate that it could have been a problem otherwise.
Think back toward the last few times you visit a restaurant. Remember when you were guided toward your table by the hostess, whether the other employees (waiter, bussers, and other hostesses) interrupted your flow to the table. If you have experienced that, how did you feel? Slightly annoyed, I would assume. Not a very good start to your dinner that night, eh?
I have been to many restaurants where the food was excellent, yet the reviews were lousy. These restaurants suffer from criticism related to “poor service”. One recent Vietnamese place I went to was extremely crowded, with the table layout focusing on maximizing space utilization rather than ease of flow. Thus people being guided to tables had to bump around against other customers, and dodge the waiters and bussers who are not yielding to the customer.
But they are popular, so who cares? Perhaps, but why allow for the irritation level to be high enough that it would take much fewer things to go wrong before the customer will never visit the place again. As with all popular places, they can quickly become very unpopular.
Think of it as you go around your job facing customers. If you think of the small things that could potentially annoy the customer, that they do not have to be annoyed with — why not just do them a favor and not let it annoy them? Step aside, smile, and wish them all a fantastic day.
