Please and Thankyou

Whatever happened to saying please and thankyou?

My Mum taught me from a very young age that you ALWAYS say please when you’re asking for something and ALWAYS say thank you after receiving something. Even if the person you’re asking/receiving from is a rude and arrogant prick you ALWAYS say thank you. No exceptions.

This is well ingrained. I always say please and thank you. When I go to the checkout at the super market, while I may not say ‘please may you serve me,’ I do have a general attitude that is friendly. I will ask the cashier how their day is and various other questions that most probably bother them no end. Then, when they finish my transaction I say thank-you.

In the Mornings when I get my coffee, I don’t have to ask for it any more, my baristas see me coming, but I always leave with my foam cup raised in the air and say ‘Thank you Gentlemen, have a wonderful day!’

Whenever I step onto a bus I will cheerily (even in the mornings before my coffee) greet the bus driver and when I skip off, regardless of how busy the bus may be, I will shout back a thank you and wave.

Even if I am having the shittiest day and I feel like the whole world is against me I will always make an effort to be friendly to people in customer service, because it’s a guarantee that they have had a far shittier, underappreciated day than I have.

I am astounded by the multitudes of people who lack common manners. A very small percentage of people say please or thankyou in any of the situations I stated above. I was having this conversation the other day with a friend and he kindly told me that he thanks volunteers and he thanks people who give him directions, but he refuses to thank someone that is being paid to provide a service.

I had no response. Yes they are being paid to provide a service, yes they are being paid to be friendly but is it really that hard to say thank you? Thank you for choosing this job so at the end of the day I don’t have to drive home? Thank you for choosing this job so I don’t have to pack my own groceries? Thank you for choosing this job so that I don’t have to drink instant coffee?

Thank you for choosing this most probably under paid and underappreciated job...

I remember when I was a teenager I LOVED customer service. I still do. I often think that if I ever was to leave my current job I would head straight for customer service work. I remember often going out of my way to provide service for customers, pricks or not, because I enjoyed working with people. I never did it because I wanted to be thanked, I did it because I enjoyed it, but do you know how special it was when a customer was nice back? When a customer appreciated my hard work? When a customer called the Myer store and told them how fantastic I was?

It was amazing to know I was appreciated.

Now I’m not saying every time you leave a store you automatically have to call up and report on the service that was provided for you, but next time you are on a bus, in a store or getting coffee, remember to say please and thank you... Even ask how the person’s day is, what their plans are for the evening or even what their favourite colour is! Treat them like a friend because unless they have done something truly horrible to you, they are NOT your enemy.

Poppitxo