There was a butcher I used to like, not far from where we lived. The idea of buying meat directly from a small shop appealed to me. It reminded me of my days growing up in Brooklyn, and the little butcher shop across the street from us. To this day the memory of Sal the Butcher dropping a huge bundle of hot dogs, all attached by string, onto the damp and grungy sawdust floor, remains vivid in my mind. Not phased at all, he scooped them up over his shoulder. Doused them in cold water to remove the sawdust, then put them into the display case. And as far as I could tell, neither he nor the many patrons in the store gave this disregard for cleanliness much thought.
I did though…even at 8 years old, this didn’t seem quite right to me.
Fortunately, cleanliness in customer service has come a long way since then. Although, the way it’s applied varies markedly from business to business, just as customer service in grocery stores varies.
A few years ago, I stopped by our local butcher to order some steaks and cold cuts. I usually didn’t pay attention to how a worker handled the food I’d ordered. But on this day, I noticed the young man helping me (wearing his plastic gloves) slice the ham and chicken. Punch the keys on the scale. Wrap the meat in paper. Pick out the steaks and ring them up. Then without changing or removing his gloves, take my credit card, and run it through the credit card machine. To be clear, he went directly from handling the meat products to pressing the register keys and handling my credit card with the very same gloves. I don’t know why, but this lack of cleanliness in customer service really struck me. I had to say something.
After paying the bill I went over to Bob (the owner) mentioning what I’d just seen. He looked at me nonplussed, and shrugged, as if to say, “No big deal.” I liked Bob. We used to chat every time I came in. But I could see by his reaction, there was no point in going further with this. So I just decided to leave. And although it wasn’t my intention at that moment, it turned out to be the last time I ever shopped there.
I see different degrees of cleanliness in customer service, at all local markets. The larger chains seem to have discernible procedures in place: staff wear a single glove to handle the food product, using the other hand to ring up keys, etc…in other stores, staff wear 2 gloves but discard them once the meat is done being handled before working the scale. Either way, it tells me a store policy is in place and being followed, which is good. Attention is being paid to food-safety and eliminating cross-contamination, which should be an integral part of anyone’s customer service policy.
Smaller markets seem to be more hit or miss. Ordering cold cuts recently at a natural foods market, the woman I spoke with (wearing gloves) stepped outside the counter area, opened a cabinet, and pulled out a hunk of chicken. She carried it over to the slicer, folded each cut piece by hand onto paper, went over to the scale, weighed it, punched the appropriate keys, all wearing the same gloves, then packaged it up.
Moments later, I stopped at the seafood counter in the same market, to order some salmon. Curious now, I watched the worker handle my order in a similar manner as the woman did in prepared foods. Wondering what their standards were, if there were actual store guidelines as far as cleanliness in customer service, I asked the clerk, what the policy was on changing gloves?
“Each time we touch a different fish”…
“What about for different customers?”. “Not necessarily”, he answered. “But always with new fish”.
“What about the scale?”.
“Um… we wipe it down every hour”…
“I’m not trying to be a pain about this… I’m on your side…but you think that’s enough?”
“No, you’re right”, he said sheepishly. Then, surprisingly, without any prompt me, started to wipe every set of scale keys in the area. My first thought was, he’s being sarcastic, but no, he actually seemed relieved and in good spirits doing this.
Coincidentally or not, the next time I was at that counter, I noticed the workers were taking off a glove before they punched any keys on the scale. Same at the prepared foods counter. Maybe speaking up in a polite way helps sometimes?
In any case, cleanliness in customer service certainly matters. How clean a store is, is not the sole determiner of whether I’ll shop there or not. But I do notice it. And all else being equal, I have chosen to shop somewhere else.
The Little Customer Service Book
A Common Sense Guide to Helping People
Recommended Links
http://www.thelittlecustomerservicebook.com
https://thelittlecustomerservicebook.com/2023/04/06/why-not-help/
