Did customer service die during the COVID-19 pandemic? Or is service just really sick? Or, does good service survive like some species mistakenly believed to have gone extinct? If that is, you’re fortunate to happen upon the right place at the right time. Like so many aspects of business and culture, I suspect it depends.

These questions and others arose during a recent trip to accompany my brother and parents as they moved from Colorado to their new Kentucky home. I was struck by the dramatic differences we encountered in patronizing so many businesses and so many kinds of businesses in the span of a little more than a week.

I’ll start with the most blatant example of poor customer service — the people who packed my family’s belongings in preparation for the move. The driver and his assistant were punctual and professional. The folks who packed the boxes not so much. Rather than pack one room at a time and mark the complete contents on each cardboard box, they decided to mix what they grabbed from throughout the house and list only a few items. The result, as my family discovered in Kentucky, were hundreds of boxes like Forrest Gump’s chocolates. My brother and parents never knew what they were gonna get. The last I heard, they were still going through boxes. One at a time.

Then there was the restaurant at which we stopped in Illinois for a late lunch. My father and I sat there for 15 minutes before we finally realized nobody was going to acknowledge our existence, much less take our orders or bring us any food. We stomped out. Disgusted and hungry.

While I’ve grown accustomed — albeit reluctantly — to checking myself out at grocery stores, I was surprised to discover the technology has extended to convenience stores. You pile your purchases on the platform of this device that electronically scans the wares and totals the price. You then insert your cash or credit card into a nearby slot. I watched an employee of the store watch me go through the process. I wondered if it wouldn’t have been easier, not to mention a whole lot more pleasant, for the employee to just ring up my purchase while we chatted about the weather.

At the other end of the customer service spectrum, my family and I enjoyed dinner at a restaurant in Kentucky where the service and food were exceptional.
If anything, I felt almost encumbered by hospitality. My tall glass of sweet tea was never empty as I savored a chicken-fried steak even bigger than the platter upon which it was served.

The crew my brother hired to clean the pool at his new home worked three consecutive days to turn a festering swamp into a cool and crystalline refuge from the 100-degree afternoons.

I admit I only report on businesses. I’ve never managed one myself. But I think a lot about the varying levels of customer service I’ve encountered and the potential for businesses to enjoy a competitive advantage in offering good service. Perhaps it’s something for business owners and managers to think about as well.

Phil Castle is editor of the Business Times. Reach him at phil@thebusinesstimes.com or 424-5133.