thestoryofjory.com

I started working in the food service industry when I was a broke, 16-year-old high school student with a horse problem.  All I expected to get from those jobs was a little bit of money to spend on my horses and lessons.  Looking back on my experiences now, I realize I got a lot more than money for my trouble. Although I don’t wait tables any more, seven years in the restaurant business has definitely colored my outlook on customer service.

Never, ever judge.

At a restaurant, stereotyping your table is the name of the game – and it’s no secret among waitpersons.  Certain ethnic groups, age groups, and sub-cultural groups tend to be avoided because of the perception that the are difficult customers or bad tippers. Those stereotypes are so engrained that they’re practically part of your training.

Except that they’re not really true.

The best tips I remember receiving, and some of the best customers I had, were from these groups.  Ironically, the worst customer I remember serving was a former country-music star – she was horribly rude from the get-go, impossibly impatient, and a bad tipper (I would’ve chocked it up to her having a bad day, but I waited on her on more than one occasion).

I learned that the pre-judging and the stereotyping turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I walked to the table expecting that they would be difficult or tip poorly, it affected my service to them in small ways and ultimately, they would reinforce the stereotype.  Getting rid of those stereotypical thoughts (which isn’t easy) helped me give better service to all groups and thus, receive better tips. But really, it’s the same with all customer service issues – get rid of the stereotypes and you’ll give better customer service and you’ll have happy, returning customers.

Be pro-active.

Waiting tables is a study in problem-solving. It’s a constant game of logic and strategy; like Risk, but with fewer tanks. You’re anticipating the needs of your tables (He’s going to need a refill in two minutes) while managing your resources (Do I need to get more ranch from the walk-in?) and dodging bombs from the hostess (Hey, we triple-sat you!).

Being proactive throughout the shift helps you stay prepared when the bombs drop and you’re in the weeds. Keeping my change organized, silverware rolled and tickets printed helped me stay ahead of most problems, most of the time.  When problems did arise, I realized that being honest with my customers and pro-active about the solution kept them happy despite my mistake. It’s not easy admitting that you forgot to put a table’s order in. But telling them up front what you did and what you’re going to do about it lets them know you care about their experience and that you want to make it right. If only all companies could figure that out…

Don’t be afraid if someone asks to see your manager.

It’s not always a bad thing when someone asks to see your boss or manager.  Sometimes tables want to compliment the management on the food or service they received.  If you’ve done your best to deliver good service, you probably have nothing to worry about.

If a table asks to see your manager, chances are you already know the reason (you made a mistake, food was wrong, etc.) and hopefully you’ve talked to the guests about their issue.  If that’s the case, tell your manager why the table wants to talk and send him right over.  Customers want to be able to talk to the people in charge, not just the people who “just work here.” When they give their feedback to a manager, there’s a perception that something is going to be done with the information; that it hasn’t fallen on deaf ears.  Give your customers an opportunity to talk to the person in charge – they’ll appreciate it.

The first week of classes at Oklahoma State University is complete, and I don’t think my students or myself are any worse for the wear. I’ve hit a few snags – like going to the wrong classroom on the first day, breaking the projector, etc; – but I’m hopeful students will forgive that initial incompetency and really enjoy the class.

For the curious, we’ll be covering blogging, basic photography and basic Photoshop, Soundslides, basic audio and video editing in Audacity and iMovie, and we’ll dip our toes into building a website with iWeb or Dreamweaver.  Students will write weekly blogs relating their area of interest (say, Sports P.R.) to the topics we covered in class. They’ll also turn in all their projects by posting them to their blogs.

In the first week, I got them all signed up for a blog on Wordpress, and started showing them how they can post blogs, add new pages, and create tags and categories. This week, we’ll talk about writing effective blog posts and blogging strategies.  I’ll also introduce them to RSS – which not a single student said they had heard of or used before, if you can believe it – and setting Google Alerts. The blogging section will conclude the following week with a discussion about design and a workshop on improving their blog’s appearance.

I’m very excited to share what I know with these students.  Most of them indicated that they had little to no experience with blogging or audio/video editing. This class will introduce them to the skills they’ll need to become the professional communicators of tomorrow. I also hope to teach them to connect the content they create with the technology that supports it.  Communications professionals should be able to converse knowledgeably with the designers and programmers who help deliver their content. After all, the world would be a better place in the future if all public relations professionals took a little more time to understand the IT behind their projects, right?

You may have noticed that my sidebar has been busted for the past several months. That’s because I started editing the stylesheet without actually knowing what I was doing. Then I couldn’t figure out what I’d done to break it. Oops!

Welp, I finally got tired of looking at my ugly mistake and decided to figure out this little CSS issue. I was pleasantly surprised that it only took this CSS n00b about an hour to diagnose and fix the problem all by myself. Tanner was quite proud.

I found a couple of other problems with my sidebar as well, and Tanner helped me diagnose and fix those. There’s still an overflow issue somewhere but I’ll have to figure that out later.

And, just so we’re clear, I’m in no way saying I know CSS – just that I understand it a lot more and it’s not so scary after all!