A pompous and arrogant customer in an antique shop was making the owner drag out fragile, old pieces, and then commenting on their poor quality and high prices. After about an hour, she looked at her watch and said she had to go.
"I suppose you think I'm a nuisance, just trying to pretend that I know what I'm talking about," she said.
The owner bowed graciously. "If you say so," he said. "In my shop, the customer is always right."
Being polite is good business. If your mother was anything like my mother, polite was her middle name. Please and thank you were just the beginning, followed by respect, tact, patience and consideration. Today, I consider myself incredibly fortunate that she and my dad took such pains to impart these values to my sister and me.
Politeness never goes out of style or out of date, although lately, I'm seeing less and less of it. Business in general has become more impersonal. People have become less concerned with the long-term ramifications of their actions.
People now do business on their cellphones, the internet and email. There is little pressure to be anything but businesslike and efficient. Sooner or later, you have no other choice than to put up with it.
I suspect some of the problems have been made worse by the pandemic lockdowns, when personal contact was rare. News flash: That phase of life is over. We need to remember how to interact in person.
The quality of customer service is falling to an all-time low. A prime example is the telemarketer who calls at a time most likely to interrupt your dinner, hawking a product that precious few people will buy over the phone.
