Welcome to Communicate Better Blog!

I was standing in line at an airport eatery observing poor customer service and communication in action and saw a great opportunity to start writing about these experiences.  In this particular case, one employee was supposed to take orders from people.  The best she could muster up was a look and hopefully people would know that meant she wanted to take their order.

One lady in line after me said “I would like a cranberry orange scone with a coffee.”  The girl behind the counter said, “You can actually get the scone on your own.”  The lady then had to back track and walk around a few people to get her scone.

Fast forward a few minutes in line where she met the cashier.  One issue here is that the cashier had no clue what was told to the order taker girl so she had to recite her order again for the cashier.  This is definitely an opportunity for efficiency.

The lady then proceeded to tell the cashier she ordered the scone and a coffee.  The cashier then said “We don’t have coffee” and later indicated they just opened and don’t have the coffee machine up and running yet.  They have been open a month already!  Wow.  What a communication break down.  This is a prime example of a service person who failed to anticipate all of the needs of the customer leading to frustration.  Not only did the scone lady walk away leaving her scone on the counter; she walked away angry.

With that, I welcome you to the Communicate Better Blog.  The intent of this blog is to highlight good and bad communication in customer service on a path toward serving customers better.  We may name companies when they do a good job but not likely when they do a bad job.  The purpose here is never to sully the name of another company.  We hope those who read this find it useful!

-Jeremy