Service, it was once a cornerstone of business, where has it gone?

In the current economy, one would think that Service in the Service industry should be at an all time high.

If you look around and see businesses closing, friends and neighbors losing work or hours of employment. One would think that this would raise the willingness of people to perform their job.

Today, It was beautiful and I decided to take one of the dogs to the park. Since I had not had breakfast I stopped and picked up my usual fast food breakfast. And to quote one of Joe Pesci's favorite slogan's "they @#%&@# in the drive thru". Well they truly did. I got my order and the drink was wrong. It was a sugary drink and I did not have the proper exchanges to have that kind of drink. I did not discover this until we had made it to the park. after our refreshing walk in the park and finishing my breakfast sandwich. I returned to the establishment and asked for a refund. I was lucky enough to have the manager on duty waiting on me at the counter. Immediately, she thrust her hand in her pocket and brought out a coupon for a free "Value Meal", which I declined since my exchanges would rarely allow a value meal. I just asked for my refund for the beverage. The smile was now gone. (The refund, must cause some sort of issue response to the home office) She rang it up, I filled out the paperwork and I got my refund.

She was apologetic when I departed. Normally, I would have not bothered. But there is more an issue at hand. The service to customers has eroded. I hear people chatting about it all the time at work and at other businesses.

What has caused that customer service to erode. What happened to taking pride in your work. In tough economic times, the people that perform should be rewarded.

When you do get great customer service let the establishment know the value of that employee.