It pays to be nice (literally)

Raise your hand if you've had a bad customer service experience... The kind that leaves you raging, on hold for more than 30 minutes, steam coming from your ears, wondering how people can be so dumb and losing hope in the human race kind of bad experience. Yeah, I have definitely been there.

I just wrapped up a trade show for work. Trade shows are full of services and therefore the prime place for above mentioned scenarios to take place. Early in the week, I ordered cleaning service for my booth (sounds ridiculous, but it's mandatory because of union rules). They came late, only cleaned half of the booth and left. I was upset. They didn't come when promised, I had to track someone down to complete the task and then they didn't even complete it. I went to the office to voice my complaint. When I was waiting in line I noticed several people in front of me who were also frustrated and taking it out on the respective people working the desk. I then decided to switch my strategy. Would if I was ridiculously nice instead? Would this help my cause? It couldn't hurt. When it was my turn I pleasantly explained my problem and asked if there was anything that could be done. She said she would have to talk to her manager and disappeared. She returned smiling and said, "We will remove the charge and give you the service for free." She then explained that the manager never did that, but because I was so nice to her they were going to help me out. I was floored. "It actually worked," I thought to myself. I walked away happy the issue had been resolved in such a positive way.

The next day I had an issue with the hotel my company was staying at, and I thought I would try the same strategy. Maybe lightning could strike twice in the same place. I waited in line and again saw the person in front of me yelling in frustration at the person helping him. After he was done, I stepped to the desk and again tried to be nice and genuine as I explained my problem. After some back and forth, he said he could help me. I thanked him and exchanged small talk with him. Then out of the blue he said, "You know, you have been so great to work with I am going to upgrade your room." I think I had to pick my jaw up off the ground. I definitely wasn't expecting that. This whole being nice to customer service reps was REALLY working for me.

I don't think being nice always yields these type of results, but I do know that most people are generally just trying to do their job and respond better to kindness than meanness. And I think it made their day and my day a little better when I didn't explode with frustration over the problem at hand. Here's to being extra nice and seeing where it takes me next time. This week it sure paid off (literally).