The phenomenon of the self-serve era is everywhere we dare to look. Many businesses now have kiosks and self-checkout stations that allow the customer to place their order and pay for the order at the touch of a finger.
A multitude of those businesses also have apps on your phone that allow you to shop and pay through the app. This is even more “convenient.” All the customer needs to do is shop and pay by phone, then check in when they arrive to the store and their items will be brought to their car.
I am one who is guilty of using an app to purchase items from a business. I began using it during the height of the pandemic. It made me feel safer to think I didn’t have to go into the business and chance catching the dreaded COVID. Even though most of the
Even though most of the country has opened back up, I still find myself using the convenience of the app. Have I become anti-social because the COVID shutdown? Have I become so dependent on the app, that the thought of purchasing items the old-fashioned way seems ludicrous?
Actually, I prefer to pay through the app because I don’t enjoy the act of opening my purse, pulling out my credit card, handing it to the cashier, then putting it back.
I still use the app for convenience on my part. My bank information is saved in the app, so I don’t have to pull out my card or any of that noise.
I may utilize the convenience of ordering through an app more than I care to admit. However, I refuse to let go of my morals and common courtesy.
Many employees of businesses that utilize convenient ways of ordering and paying no longer interact with the customer. This leads to the employee forgetting how to interact with a customer.
Some have forgotten that the main thing in any businesses dealing in customer service cannot lack, well, customer service. I was taught to always utilize L.E.A.S.T. when dealing with customers, especially if there is an issue. L.E.A.S.T. stands for listen, empathize, apologize, solve, and thank.
The downfall of self-checkout registers and kiosks is employees are no longer immersed in the customer service aspect of the job. Sometimes, this can lead to rude or indifferent employees.
A few weeks ago, my husband and I visited a fastfood restaurant in Sherman, Texas. The restaurant only offers the kiosk option.
Everything went smoothly, until I had an issue with the kiosk. It took me approximately 15 minutes to get the attention of an employee (which was not an issue, because they were busy making customer’s orders).
Once the employee noticed that I needed assistance, she approached the counter. It almost seemed as if she had no idea how to talk to a customer. She was rude, short and didn’t even figure out how to fix my plight. She basically shrugged her shoulders and went to the back.
We eventually figured out the issue with the kiosk and was able to place our order. However, the interaction stuck with me for a few days after it happened.
Have we become so infatuated with convenience that we’re ok sacrificing courtesy for the convenience?
Once upon a time, nothing was self-service. Grocery stores took customer’s lists and retrieved the items for them (sound familiar). Gas stations did not allow customers to pump their own gas for safety reasons due to fire codes.
Some states still prohibit self-service gas stations. New Jersey and Oregon still make it illegal to pump your own gas, along with Huntington, New York.
Grocery stores began allowing the customer shop for their own items in 1917, and self-service gas stations began popping up around the world in 1964. Knowing this information, shows that times change, no matter how bad we want them to stay the same.
The one thing that we can keep the same and prohibit from changing, though, is common courtesy to each other and customers.