Like most people, I have low expectations when calling a company’s customer service department. And when you limit this to notoriously bad industries like travel, cell phones, and healthcare, the bar is set even lower. So, I was quite shocked when I called my doctor’s office to ask about an error on my bill, and [...]

During a recent trip, I walked by a particular restaurant several times. It’s located right on the town square, so it’s rather hard to miss. A few things struck me as odd, though. First, the building had lots of windows, but the shades were closed all day long. Second, they didn’t have a menu or [...]

Of all the types of spam emails, the ones I find the most annoying are the self-referential ones. These emails start off with a fairly pathetic plea, such as “We’ve been trying to contact you for weeks but you won’t do us the courtesy of replying”. Then, they include a forwarded copy of each message [...]

I asked a friend to recommend a consultant for a specific project, and he gave me four names. One of them sounded really familiar, but I couldn’t figure out where I knew the person from. Several hours later, I realized that the consultant had the same first and last name as a well-known industry figure [...]

Most restaurants don’t put much thought into how the check is presented. Sometimes they’ll include a survey or a coupon for a future visit, but just as frequently, this opportunity to convey valuable messages is squandered. So, I was pretty surprised to see a very clever ad included along with my check at a local [...]

Here’s a few phrases to avoid when talking to customers on the phone:
- “The system won’t allow it” (repeated emphatically using the exact same inflection each time)
- “You only have one more chance” (implying that something terrible is going to happen afterwards)
- “My name is John” (when it’s obviously more like Sidhur or Pravaneek or [...]

I visited a building yesterday that used a pretty stupid sign-in process. The security person in the front insisted that I write my name and where I was going on their sign-in sheet, although he didn’t ask for any identification to verify my identity. Meanwhile, other people just walked by without even being asked to [...]

When I decide to purchase a product from my grocery store’s weekly flyer, I naturally look for something that matches the picture they used in the ad. Usually, this works out well, but sometimes they use an old or mismatched photo that actually throws me off course. In other words, I end up looking for [...]

It’s a fairly common practice for companies to provide a window of time when a service will be performed. This practice can be applied to a diverse set of tasks, whether it’s repairing an air conditioner or performing scheduled maintenance on a website. In each case, the goal is to tell customers how long the [...]

While traveling on Chicago’s Metra train system this past weekend, I was rather baffled by the signage at several stations. I expected to see a simple sign on each side of the tracks that said “Wait here for trains to Chicago” (or whatever the destination was). Instead, the signs were either missing entirely or identified [...]