Looking for... Service with a Smile

I have been patronizing this local hair stylist for the past 16 years. No specific reason for the loyalty, other than proximity, short waits and general satisfaction with the results. But like everything else, with the passage of time, I started taking this place for granted. I show up there every other month, fix my hair and go on with my life.

In fact, even more interesting is the fact that the shop owners have changed quite often. The actual stylists (are we allowed to say barbers?) varied - sometimes they were experienced, at other times they were students from some local hair styling school. I probably had the same person do my hair not more than two or three times. They do not know my name, but being a loyalist I hung on. Maybe the anonymity was a plus too!

I must also add that while they did not do anything that exactly qualified them for any hair styling awards, they did not do anything to upset me too much in the customer satisfaction department. That is till today...

I show up for my usual medium cut and the stylist sits me down and gets started on what I thought would be a routine clip-eroo. She asks me what kind of hair cut I would like and I say the usual, "Medium". I then make motion with my hand to indicate that I want the hair above the ears and at the back to be trimmed. Then I added, "I will let you know if you need to cut more."

Not too happy at the seeming lack of clarity, she ploughs on. When she is all done, she blows a lot of hot air all over my head and dusts me off and looks to me for my approval.

I feel the back of my head and feel that there is still some more hair that needs to be cut. I tell her that and she is not too happy with my request. She sighed and gave a one of those looks to suggest if only these damned customers would be happy with what they get...Anyway she soldiered on, but not before she told me that in the future, I should mention "Number 3" to get the "right hair cut". Bear in mind that she says this to me not to increase my satisfaction with the hair cut, but to make her job easier.

This brings me to the point of all this. (And there is a point. While inquiring minds may be tempted to jump for joy at these hairy revelations, there is a point to all this.) As I drove home, I was really upset that after giving that establishment my business for the last 16 years, the hair stylist could not provide me service with a smile. What am I getting in exchange for my loyalty?

I started wondering about the quality of service we get, in general. Do we get good service from our merchants? Are we too timid, too docile, too accepting of poor service? Are we too tolerant/nice/apathetic? Do we demand good service? Is our business taken for granted? Is your loyalty to a business a sign of weakness? What do you all think?

Instead of saying, "No problem" and taking care of it, my hair stylist made me feel like I should have known better.

You know she is right. I should have known better. I should find someone else to do my hair, someone who knows my name and some one who remembers how I like it done, someone who values my loyalty!