Career Options
Customer service warms a cold dayI looked out my office window on one of the coldest days of the year and shivered. |
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 [ 2008-01-23 ] |
Having missed a credit card payment, I knew I had to get to the bank and get rid of the bill as soon as I could. But the bank, four windswept blocks away, was too close to drive to and I sure didn't want to brave the cold and wind, exposing myself to the elements by walking even that short distance.
I bit the bullet, buttoned my overcoat and plunged into the frigid temperatures, keeping my head down and my feet moving as fast as they would go.
TOO COLD
Minutes later I was there, out of breath and with apple-coloured cheeks from the biting breeze. Despite the noon hour being prime lineup time for most downtown branches, barely a soul, other than staff, inhabited this London, Ont., Bank of Montreal branch.
"Must be too cold for people to walk here," I said to Chris, the service representative who greeted me at his wicket.
He laughed and agreed that it was unusually cold. To my right, two other service representatives were chatting in the lull and quickly turned their attention to me and regaled me with their tales of the cold.
After some light banter, Chris and I got down to the task at hand and within no time the bill was paid and I could be on my way -- but I hesitated. I don't know if it was the courteous staff or how nasty the weather was outside, but I decided I would take care of some other business while I was at the bank.
My BMO bank card has been dysfunctional for about a year. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I decided I would ask to get a new one.
A few customers came and went while Chris worked on assigning me a new bank card. At some point during the transaction, and after resuming my chatter with the other customer representatives, Chris realized he couldn't authorize a new card.
The branch's manager who was just coming out of her office came over to see if she could assist. She authorized the new card and asked me if I worked near the bank. We laughed about how on this particular day the bank was too far away to walk, but too close to drive.
While there, she authorized some tweaking to my card -- the withdrawal limit was painfully low -- and asked me if I needed information on any other services the bank offered: credit cards, investments, lines of credit, etc.
Chris finished generating the paperwork and had me sign in the appropriate spots, explained to me how to change the new PIN number on my bank card and then handed me a receipt that detailed all the transactions I had just completed.
The branch manager thanked me very much for taking the extra time to speak with her about the bank's services, and the other customer representatives warned me to bundle up for the brisk walk back to my office.
I left the branch with a smile on my face and the warmth stayed with me all four blocks of the breezy, frigid trip back. The sun came out and enhanced that happy feeling of having been treated the way every customer dreams of being treated -- like I really am the most important person in the world.
Had it not been so cold out, the experience may have never happened. But I like to think that just maybe the environment in that workplace is so positive that, if given the time, every customer would get the same experience I did.
WORTH MY TIME
The staff were happy and friendly from the top right down to the front-line worker, service was accurate and timely and it made me think that making that four-block walk in the Canadian winter was more than worth my time and effort.
In fact, it made me want to make that trek more often -- which is surely the goal of every downtown business in every sector in every city across this land.
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