My reflections on customer service training and workplace experiences

Relfective Analysis

Reflective Analysis

Personal Reflective Analysis as an Employee

Finding employment is one of the benchmarks of any person's life, and a job or training experience can be very rewarding, or it can be one of the worst events in a young life. The power of a work experience should not be underestimated especially when it comes early in one's working life. Since, work is a seminal part of a person's life, and a stark dividing line between childhood and adulthood, an individual needs to examine every youthful experience so that they can have better ones in the future. The importance then in the issues that occur at work is that they can be stepping stones to real solutions later on in a working life, or they can become progenitors of bitter feelings about work in general.

The focus should be on learning from experiences, but sometimes this is not possible. Many people start at a job in retail or fast food, that is a great first job because of the employee has to learn to deal with customers, but can lead to a negative view of the workforce. An employer should offer adequate training to prepare its employees for the experiences that they are going to have in the workforce, so they can gain positive outcomes from even the most, seemingly, negative events. This paper outlines some of the negative and positive personal experiences gained while learning in the workforce, what training should have occurred and did occur, and what youthful employees can do to gain experiences that will serve them throughout a working life.

Negative Experiences

Any employee will remember what has happened to them at a job that had negative consequences either because of some sort of personal error, or due to a customer who was unreasonable. The early scenario of working in a restaurant is probably the one of the most common, and that type of work is fraught with possible negative occurrences. Some of the incidents described, in a general way here, are as a result of customer interaction and some have to do with errors caused by the employee.

Cashiers in a fast food restaurant take the brunt of customer displeasure, and they also receive the lion's share of the complaints. When working in this situation it is necessary to make sure that one has been trained, either formally or informally, as to what they can expect from the people that they will face. Customers often are in a bad mood when they come to a food counter because of what they have experienced during the day, and this will spill into their interaction with the food service personnel. The reason for this is that the food service worker is anonymous to them, even if they have a nametag, which makes it okay, though socially inappropriate, to berate the individual for even the slightest wrong (Ahl, 2008). Though most people try to remain civil when they are dealing with any other individual, there are times when civility just disappears. At these times, the server or cashier is likely to experience the force of a negative attitude.

A cashier, at a fast food restaurant, is most often tasked with providing the diner with their beverage cup, and a tray with their mean on it. Sometimes, things have gone wrong in the kitchen and there is something wrong with the meal that the server has no control over. However, that server is often the person who is charged with the mistake. Such as product that is overcooked (or burnt), food that is undercooked, or use of ingredients that are not the freshest. Diners who are already predisposed to having a bad experience are more likely to complain about even the most minor imperfections in the preparation of their food, so the server is more likely to get an unsatisfactory reaction from this type of person. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to disciplinary action if the manager at the time feels that the customer's complaint, for something that they could not control, was warranted.

Customers will also make accusations against their servers and cashiers that are completely unnecessary simply due to deviltry. This often occurs when the customer is young and trying to impress someone else. A time-worn example of this type of behavior is the comedic "I have a fly in my soup" (Willis, 1977, 79). Of course fly may actually be there, but it is difficult to determine if the fly was placed in the soup by the customer, or if it actually fell in sometime during the preparation or delivery process. Whatever the actual cause, the server or cashier often is deemed responsible for the infraction and made to mend it for the customer. This type of experience is also common because it seems that people will often try to take advantage of a situation. Unfortunately, a scenario like this rarely comes up in training scenarios. Managers are likely to say that when this happens, just give the customer what they want and appear pleasant. The company is not out very much money and they would rather have the customer return and spend more money than be disgruntled and not come back. This type of approach does not seem to support the employee, but the nature of business is to get a customer to come back again.

Customers will often expect a certain type of service from a restaurant that they are not able to get at home. This can lead to an individual presenting as entitled to a level of service that is not warranted by the situation. This can also present the cashier or server with a person who thinks that they deserve to be treated differently than others. The term used most often is that are "entitled." This will often be the case in more upscale establishments, but it occurs even among the most low cost eateries also. Serving this type of customer can be difficult because they will often find fault in every type of food or service that is offered, and they often will demand more of the server or cashier's time than it is possible to give.

Training

This is one of the most important aspects of any job, and it is sometimes the most overlooked. People who attend college, receive a degree and then enter the workforce are often expected to know how to perform in a certain job because they have all of the technical knowledge that is required. But, the technical knowledge may be the least important form of training that they will receive. Knowing how to perform a job has to do with being able to meet the demands that the occupation and the work site produce (Vickerstaff, 2003). According to Vickerstaff

"It is a truism of current youth studies that what was seen as the traditional youth transition from school to (training to) work has been progressively fragmented and individualized in the period from the mid-1970's onwards resulting in less certainty, more risk and a variety of possible (and impossible) transitions for young people." Even though the author does try to refute the conventional wisdom that transitions from school to work are more difficult presently, it cannot be argued that apprenticeship programs are less well used now than they were previously (DOL, 2009). Because of this, it is true that new employees do not receive the benefits of really knowing how to perform on a job site like they used to.

In the food services industry, there really are no apprenticeships unless one reaches the level of chef. The training for a person who has taken a job in this industry usually consists of making sure that they can talk respectfully to the customers and that they can successfully take the money at the cash register. Many jobs do not require very much training, but it is still a necessary part of the job. In food services the cash registers get more complicated as more items are added, but new electronics make it easier to actually take orders once the individual learns how to input them. For servers, the complicated part of the job is interacting with customers. Many service jobs have extensive training regarding their sales staff, and food services is no exception. Human interaction can be difficult, and certain sales techniques have proven more effective than others. To have a truly efficient staff, the employer needs to have training that will both warn the potential server of customer reactions, and allow them to study situations that may arise. The more training that the staff has the better prepared they will be to meet the public which is the ultimate goal.

Getting First Job Experience

Unemployment among people below the 24-year-old age threshold has gotten worse over the past four years (DOL, 2009). As older people take jobs that have traditionally gone to younger people, there has been a new wave of individuals that re looking to the skilled trades. The reason that these are not traditionally sought, at least not for the past few years, is that they require a commitment that many were unable to give. However, since the cost of college continues to rise and there are fewer subsidies from the government for education, many have gone back to taking the skilled trades seriously.

There are always a great number of apprenticeships available even if the jobs are scarce. The reason for this is that as the skill level increases so does the level of mandated pay. Since most of these types of jobs are unionized, someone with a lot of seniority will get the best jobs. However, apprenticeship programs allow for a lower level of pay for someone who can do the job (Carlso, 1993). During this economic downturn, there have actually been a lot of apprenticeships that have opened up because the skilled jobs require a lot of people despite the economic traits. This means that people who are seeking a long-term solution to unemployment often look at industries that need skilled people, but traditionally have a difficult time getting them.

The medical field has long trained LPNs and CNAs to fill hospital and wellness facilities, but even after the nurses have received the classroom training, they must undergo a short apprenticeship while they learn their duties. Many health fields require that employees undergo up to two tears of an apprenticeship before they are able to get their licenses.

Other fields are also following suit, because training in a field is so important (Oliver, 2010). One of the primary ways that people in economically disadvantages areas are getting jobs now is through apprenticeships and jobs programs of various types (Martin & Smith, 2011). Training programs allow teens and young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds to work for up to three years getting training in a specific area before they hit the job market. These government sponsored programs include many different job types to cover the different aptitudes of applicants.

Conclusion

There are different levels of training that occur in all different industries. Fields such as entry level food services usually have training that is sponsored by the employer themselves, but there are many that want employees who have already gained a great deal of experience through different apprenticeship programs. Whatever the method of receiving the training it is important that a worker understand the job they have, and that although they may have negative job experiences these can lead to positive outcomes down the road.

Most jobs do have positive and negative aspects to them, but the best part of having a slew of different jobs when one is young is that they can more easily discover what they want to do when it comes time to start a career. All of the ups and downs experienced are needed to find the one career that best suits the individual. Apprenticeship training is a great way to experience how a job can change and gain valuable experience along the way.