Effort & attitude make the difference

By: Steve Ross | 07-Mar-2019

This past week I was thinking a lot about various lessons I've learned that didn't necessarily come from a traditional way of learning. I felt that I could share one of those moments that was a real eye-opener for me when I was still early on in my career.

I started in Customer Service as a call center representative. During that time I would (almost literally) moonlight as a bartender during the overnight shift at a local tavern. From 2pm-10pm, 2 days a week I would get an interesting new perspective of what it was like to decompress from working in the customer service industry in Atlantic City. As the sun came up it was usually time to clear out, leaving me alone from roughly 7am, until about 8-9am. By 9am, without fail two older retired gentlemen would come in to start their day with a beer or a bloody mary. It is these two guys, along with the bar's owner and the regular night time bartender that helped form this lesson.

For the sake of this story, I'll borrow the names of the two old grumpy muppets, Statler & Waldorf as the names of our two customers, the reference is fitting as they would come in, gripe about anything in the news that day. On a particular day in question, the pair stopped in, as usual, we did our usual routine, Statler and Waldorf both took off for the day earlier than usual. As my shift came to an end the other overnight bartender stopped in and eventually the bar owner came in to check in, he asked how my night was. I told him it was fine, busy at first, then nothing for a few hours and that I ended my night with Statler and Waldorf stopping in as usual. The moment I said their names, the other bartender barked "Oh, those grumpy old cheapskates? They get mad if I don't give them half their drinks for free" and went back to his drink.

Grumpy old cheapskates? Free drinks? Surely he wasn't talking about the same guys I was talking about? They might talk politics, religion and all the other 'forbidden' topics, but they paid for their drinks and left a decent tip every day. I decided to investigate!

The next morning, I was off from both jobs and decided to stop in to see for myself, I arrived before Statler and Waldorf normally would have, the bar was empty and the bartender was kicked back watching TV. (I now understood why the bar was always in need of the deep cleanings I would give it from 7am-8am when I was alone.) Statler arrived first, about 30 minutes later than his normal time, Waldorf was still a no-show. The show the bartender was watching reached commercial and he finally got Statler his drink. Ten minutes before the shift was to end Statler said "I'll be right back" and wandered out of the bar, Waldorf was still a no-show, I was actually worried something had happened. Five minutes passed and Waldorf came walking in, the new bartender who had arrived for her shift got his drink for him. There was very little conversation beyond the two of them talking to me, and neither Statler nor Waldorf tipped the outgoing overnight bartender that day, and I understood completely what had happened, I'm guessing you do too... Either way, please humor me as I elaborate.

Each day when my last overnight customer left around 6-7am I would start into my nightly cleaning and restocking, not because someone told me to do it, but just because it seemed like it should be part of my responsibilities. Then around 7:30am, the daily newspapers would get delivered. I would unpack them and set one down where Waldorf normally sat since I knew he would be in soon, I would also tune the TV to Statler's favorite news channel since he would be right arriving shortly after. I would throw a few of each of their favorite beers on ice and wait for them to get there. When they arrived I would greet them, Waldorf's beer was next to his paper by the time he got to his seat, he never faltered off his beverage of choice! We would talk about fishing and cars. For Statler, I would ask how the family and specifically his grandbabies were and find out which drink he was having today, he always liked to keep me guessing. One of them would usually comment about the cleanliness of the bar. They would have their drinks (paying for most of them), chat it up for a while, and when I checked in on them before the end of my shift they would throw me a decent tip and we would say goodbye until next time. 

It was evident to me then, it was never about the free drinks, it was all about the service! These guys would gladly pay full price for all their drinks, making the bar more money. They would gladly tip well for some personalized service, making me more money. And they would actually stay longer in the bar making the next bartender more money as well. 

For those of you reading this that are more customer facing, I encourage you to always consider going above and beyond, it'll pay off in the end. For those of you managing teams, hopefully, you'll agree this same basic principle can be applied to interacting with your team members. Building a rapport, doing something a little extra to make their time with you easier and more enjoyable, and ensuring your workspace is taken care of can make them more productive, you more efficient, and ultimately make the company more money which is what we're all here to do.

Kindness is a language the blind can see and the deaf can hear. -Mark Twain