Midspan of the Poplar

s it just me, or is customer service improving with the economic downturn? With one glaring exception, my recent interactions with the service industry have been more pleasant and efficient than anytime in recent memory.

When I need to stop at the local fast food joint, I actually get a smile and the correct items in my order. No rolling eyes. No heavy sighs. No looks of annoyance. In general, no attitude.


When I call for help with something the person on the other end of the line sounds helpful, confident and competent. It's exactly what I want to hear.

Here are a few theories:

With more people out of work, there are a lot of overqualified people out there taking these jobs either on a part-time or temporary basis. They actually take pride in their work.

With more people out of work AND with the average American rate of saving now at 5%, there are fewer customers to serve. This helps with shorter lines and wait times. It also makes over-worked service personnel less stressed. Let's face it, the "service industry" has been more about "industry" and less about "service" for several years now.

With high competition for the consumer dollar, companies are realizing the value of service again. The customer is no longer feeling tied to a minimal level of quality service because the location is more convenient. Their competitor has short lines and low wait times and guess what? They don't have an attitude.

Of course, I need to point out the exception that proves the rule. Borders.com. Back in early January, I ordered a book and a DVD from them. Both items said they usually ship in 3-7 days. I had an email later the same day indicating the book had been shipped. Sure enough, it was on my doorstep within three days. The DVD? No such luck. It was still listed as "in process" on my account.

After about a month, I sent an email to customer service listing the order number and explaining my situation. Nothing. Not even an auto-email acknowledging my request. About a week later, I sent another. Again, no response. Deciding that the emails weren't working, I called their customer service number and got a pleasant, helpful sounding woman on the other end of the line. She looked at my account and said something like, "Hmmm, that's odd. Let me take your email address and see if our supplier for that DVD is having difficulty getting it in stock. You will have a response within 24 hours." Finally someone was going to straighten this out! Well, it's been about three weeks now and I haven't heard anything back.

I did see last week that Border's was laying off some 700 workers and many of them were in customer service.

Hmmmm. That's odd.