I was at one of my favorite weekend spots on Saturday having breakfast. I was waiting to pay my bill and heard a rather loud conversation in front of me between the cashier and a customer. The conversation went something like this; “Why is the bill so much?” “Well, you ordered everything a la carte, you really should have ordered from our specials or regular menu.” “It would have been nice if the waitress had told me this, it is our first time here and now it will be our last time here.” Then dead silence as the cashier finished the transaction. It would have been so easy for the cashier to remedy this situation by charging the customer a regular meal price. Did she? No. Now they have lost a potential return customer and you can be sure that this disgruntled person is sharing her story with all her friends.
I had to wonder, does this employee not feel empowered to make this kind of decision? Maybe they have not had training on handling these types of situations? At any rate, the opportunity to make and keep a new customer was missed. I felt bad for the cashier who was not prepared to “make the save.”
If you own or manage a business, this is a good reminder to be aware of those brand touchpoints, anything that touches your customer has an impact on their experience. In this case some simple training would likely have prevented a poor customer experience.
