A lot of it is based on manners, and if your parent(s) didn’t teach you any you are at a loss in the world. Back in the day I had to balance a dictionary on my head, take violin, ballet and piano and call family friends aunts and uncles. Not all at the same time.
Please and thank you always, thank you notes were also a must. Shake hands, allow hugs. Also cheek kisses from older women (one I loved as a grandma) with lots of lipstick.
Client service is not included here but I’m good at that, at least I was before retirement. Customer service is included.
Manners. Greet the customer, treat him/her with respect. If a supermarket clerk asks me how bad the rain or snow is outside, I answer. They’re trying to be friendly as they hear thunder and watch the skies open up. “Is there anything I can help you with?” Unless it’s an over-eager bra saleswoman bursting into your dressing room while you’re naked, that’s a good thing.
Leave your personal problems at home. Whether a flower store or a desk that is designed to make people who pay your salary feel safe and sound, go the extra mile and make things happen.
Late last night our brand new smoke/carbon monoxide detector (installed yesterday by professionals) started chirping. No-one would help me. I was asked if my husband was home to fix it. No. “Well then you’ll just have to get up there and start pressing some buttons.” We pay this person’s salary.
This hiree then said she would not lift a finger to help me, except to put in a work order for the next day. I had a massive headache for listening to these sharp sounds for four hours and my dog’s ears had to be hurting. I checked this morning and she never bothered to put in a work order!
My husband makes more in a day than she does in a month. We pay her salary. Yet she slings out nasty comments and cannot even greet me when I see her. That is callous, rude and unprofessional.
A new system was installed again this morning and as of now it is chirp-free. Yea! There have been over 100 employees/contractors here during our tenure. Let’s say there were 100. Ninety-nine would vouch for me and my husband and dog Zoe, likewise on our end. There’s just one bad apple.
More rules. Be professional and do your job. Greet people as if you are happy to see them. If there is an issue, correct it or know who can do so and contact them if the situation warrants. I can tell you right now that I do not feel safe with that person late at night as if Zoe and I were to be attacked, robbed, raped it could be right in front of the windows where she could see, she’d never bother calling 911.
Laziness is not an option. You may not wish to work wherever you are working to get through school or have a first job but you must know that getting the job done is your priority. Recommendations go a long way for getting into a four-year school, military, anything. If you treat all your customers like you’re above them and they are dirt when they pay your salary, you’re going to have a problem finishing your education AND getting a job afterward.
Attitude matters as well as manners. Also, lying to customers and promising to do something you’ve no intention of doing and think you’re sly and beating the game, does not work and will come back and bite you in the behind. So will smugness and haughty behavior. In the end I don’t really care if you dress for work better than I dress to take out the dog. I’m retired.
If you want a job somewhere, present yourself well, get hired and do your job the best you can. I’ve been friends with old-fashioned elevator operators, janitors, restaurant staff (one just stopped me at the butcher counter the other day after their restaurant closed two years ago), butchers, drycleaners, folks at our new hardware store.
Our old elevator operator, Tony, ran a hand elevator in a significant building in which I worked. He’s probably retired now but last I heard they put in electronic elevators and moved Tony to Security where I hope he made a lot more for his pension!
These were gorgeous wood elevators with a brass wheel for control and he hit the floor on the mark every time for the six years I worked there. It was like it was my magic elevator, he knew my floor and he always started the morning with “bella ragazza,” beautiful girl in Italian. Now that is customer service. Ciao, Dee
Cooking with Dee 
Madova sells gloves on the other side of the river in Florence in, let’s say you have a walk-in closet times two or three. Gorgeous leather gloves in any color, all hand-made and on shelves or custom order. I walk into this “closet” as it is very close and intimate and am given a pillow on which to place my elbow to be fitted.
It was remarkable. I wanted one black, one navy, one wool-lined, the other silk-lined. All above the wrist. They had it all. Elbow down, hand up, they fitted me gloves. They were gentle, kind, probably spoke a few words of English as I tried to mangle the Italian language and it was the epitome of customer service.