{"id":66793,"date":"2025-07-07T00:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T05:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/?p=66793"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:25:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T20:25:47","slug":"customer-service-lessons-from-my-50th-birthday-celebration-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trainingmag.com\/customer-service-lessons-from-my-50th-birthday-celebration-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service Lessons from My 50th Birthday Celebration in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

I celebrated my 50th<\/sup> birthday in Paris a couple of weeks ago. It was a great reason to take a fabulous international trip\u2014if you need an excuse to do that\u2014and it also offered an insightful glimpse into the state of customer service.<\/p>\n

Training to Evenly Distribute Attention to Customers<\/h2>\n

I treated myself to a premium economy seat on a Delta flight operated by Air France. It was much roomier than regular economy, but other than that, not remarkably different. The customer service was about the same. On the flip side, when I have flown business class (what it seems most airlines are calling first class these days), the flight attendants sometimes even greet you by name because they have memorized, or have a little clipboard with, the names of each passenger and exactly where each is seated.<\/p>\n

With the premium economy ticket costing about $1,000 more than regular economy, flight attendants could be trained to raise the bar on customer service. They can\u2019t offer the same level of attention as is offered to those in business class, but they could be trained to spend more time interacting with each of the passengers and not letting any passenger(s) feel like they\u2019ve been given short shrift.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that means training on how to manage a customer who is demanding an undue level of attention. One of the people sitting across the aisle from me was able to waylay a flight attendant for more than 10 minutes, at least. Customer service training should include a protocol for managing the demanding customer who threatens to take the employee away from all the other customers requiring their attention.<\/p>\n

Train on Honesty<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s easy to take advantage of an ignorant clientele. My friends and I like to think we\u2019re worldly people, but when traveling abroad, it\u2019s easy to feel like a bumpkin.<\/p>\n

The cab driver from the airport tried to get us to agree to accept a rate different from the legal flat rate for rides between the airport and the Paris city center. He first tried to make it sound like it would be a better deal for us if we waived our rights to the flat rate because if we did so, the ride actually might be cheaper. Then, when that didn\u2019t work, he took the opposite tack, practically whining to us that it would be very long trip with weekday midday traffic. Were we meant to feel sorry for him?<\/p>\n

It reminded me of a stay many years ago at a Mexican-themed resort, when the bellhop asked for a greater tip than I had offered, noting that the resort wasn\u2019t just Mexican themed; the owners also paid employees Mexican-level wages.<\/p>\n

When training employees, I wonder if a Golden Rule\/empathy approach might work best. I find that when a person is asked to treat others the way they want to be treated and to put themselves in the shoes of those they are serving or working with, there can be enlightenment. Many people, apparently, are not innately empathetic or emotionally intelligent. Rather than having a penchant for dishonesty, many seemingly crooked and inappropriate customer service employees may not have considered the impact of their behavior on the customer.<\/p>\n

Of course, it also helps to reward stellar customer service. A business could let customers know the name of the employee(s) assigned to serve them during their stay. Then, upon check-out, they could be asked for a comment or two about the person(s) serving them. Those who get high compliments\/high ratings, could be entitled to a monetary bonus or another reward.<\/p>\n

Train for Patient, Smooth Problem Solving<\/h2>\n

On the day we were scheduled to go to Versailles, one of my friends overslept. The cost of the roundtrip train ticket was included in the Versailles tour package we purchased, but we did not have time to take the train and get there in time for the start of the tour.<\/p>\n

Our concierge patiently listened to us and helped us get a cab to take us there. Then, as if he hadn\u2019t had enough of us already (he probably had!), he helped us again at dinnertime when we yet again were running late for our reservation on the top of Montmartre. This time he really went above and beyond. We asked him, as a native speaker, to call the restaurant for us and explain that we were badly running late, but that we still intended to dine there. We didn\u2019t want the restaurant to think we were a no-show and give our table away. The concierge did that and found a cab for us.<\/p>\n

The night before we left, he patiently listened while I requested that he not only order a cab for us back to the airport but that he also find a driver who would let one of our friends, who is a large person, sit in the front seat, rather than having all three of us squeezed into the back.<\/p>\n

When training employees, you must realize that customers like my friends and I\u2014who oversleep, run late, and often have spoiled requests to ensure comfort\u2014are to be expected. It\u2019s easy to be short-tempered with people like us. You know your customer service training is a success when an employee can listen patiently to these travails and requests and succeed in smoothly finding solutions.<\/p>\n

What have you found to be the key to creating the kind of employees who spur return visits or return business from customers?<\/p>\n

HERE\u2019s<\/em><\/a> a helpful LinkedIn article I found on training for better customer service.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When training employees on customer service, a Golden Rule\/empathy approach might work best as employees imagine themselves in the shoes of those they are serving or working with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-66793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCustomer Service Lessons from My 50th Birthday Celebration in Paris<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When training employees on customer service, a Golden Rule\/empathy approach might work best as employees imagine themselves in the shoes of those they are serving or working with.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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