Foreclosures, bankruptcies, credit crisis, failed banks, high unemployment, recession. We have all heard the bad news. With the worldwide economy stagnating, visitors are coming to Kaua‘i with less frequency, not staying as long and not spending as much money while they’re here.
That slowdown has cycled through our local economy. People whose jobs are not even remotely related to the visitor industry are feeling the pinch because many of their customers are locals who are impacted. Essentially everyone on the island has been affected.
Why, then, at a time when store owners should be doing everything in their power to attract and retain customers are we hearing and experiencing horror stories about poor customer service? Far too often we witness or are told about a Kaua‘i resident or a visitor willing to spend their hard-earned dollars at a local business but he or she is treated so poorly that they regret their decision.
In such trying economic times, the least we can do is treat our customers with respect and aloha and help them realize that their brave decision to spend in the face of financial disaster is necessary to the health of the community and therefore deeply appreciated. (By the way, this should be the case irrespective of the strength or weakness of the economy.)
It’s happened to all of us: an unfriendly or unhelpful salesperson, inattentive service, a surprise when the check comes or other mistreatment. But at this point, we’d hope the lone benefit of our weak economy would be the causal connection between desperation and spectacular service.
Hanapepe’s Ryan Kishida relayed his frustration in a letter we printed on Oct. 3. He said lousy service from restaurants, hotels and party planning companies with which he was considering plans for his upcoming wedding — surely thousands of dollars up for grabs for local employers and employees — led him to simply do the work himself.
His decision, forced by the reluctance of local businesses to treat their customers with the respect they deserve, hurts all of us.
If someone walks into a business to buy something, it is only appropriate that a sales representative or the store owners would want to do whatever possible to make that person feel welcome and answer questions about their products or services. Acting annoyed by a shopper’s presence is simply not the right reaction for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that this consumer is directly or indirectly paying your wages.
We should all expect as much.
But this is not limited to private businesses. The county and state government offices — such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and Division of State Parks — are definitely included. Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. has made some progress in this arena, but we can and do expect more.
We don’t mean to pile on; we know times are tough. And we are definitely not asking anybody to adopt a subservient role. But there is a way to treat people respectfully while still respecting yourself.
So right now, those of you who own, manage or are employed at a local business, please try to remember common courtesies and basic customer service principles.
With things as hard as they are today and no relief on the horizon, we need to pull together to keep the island afloat. Do your part by doing your job well and by encouraging locals and visitors to spend their money with your company. One of the best ways to encourage them is to serve them with a smile.
Instead of walking away with regret, they’ll walk away and remember our aloha.
