#travel #rudetravelers #customerservice
It’s been said that one catches more flies with honey than vinegar.
Christopher Elliottt, editor at large for National Geographic Traveler, goes a step further. When you travel, customer service people will go out of their way to give you what you want, and more, if you are nice. If you are rude to them, they will actually go out of their way to make sure you are not accommodated.
Elliott discussed this in a Sept. 21, 2015, column in USA Today.
And it’s not only the service providers that could work against the rude person. Fellow travelers will hope rude behavior doesn’t produce the desired results.
Let’s examine this. Certainly, when we travel, we spend a lot of money. We’ve worked hard to get the time off. We pay dearly for transportation, accommodations, food, drink and activities. We have a certain level of expectation for what we pay.
When something doesn’t go right, it’s perfectly normal to be upset. However, when you think of all the steps it may take to put a trip together, sometimes things don’t go as smoothly as you would like.
Most service people want to please you. But you have to want to please yourself, too, and getting angry at the service person, who is doing his or her best to make your trip as enjoyable as possible, ruins your good time. Handle the distress calmly. Your trip will be better for it. As Elliott advises, pack your hammers.
Put yourself in the service professional’s shoes. Don’t you think he or she won’t want to help you if you are rude to them? They may show calmness and restraint with a rude customer, but deep down, they don’t want you to get what you are demanding. On the other hand, if the customer is nice, especially when something goes wrong, they will not only want to rectify the problem quickly, they will want to give you something extra for your patience.
Have you ever eaten at a restaurant at which a diner was making a scene over some part of his meal? Have you ever stood in line behind some unhappy person, and the argument is holding you up?
It’s best to begin the trip thinking that some glitch will occur, and, when and if it does, tell yourself to deal with it with good humor. Elliott says it will pay off for you in terms of service, and you won’t waste all that valuable energy being rude. The service providers and fellow travelers will thank you in many ways.
Another hint: if you are traveling with small children, take them to restaurants that can best accommodate them. If you want a quiet, adult dinner, get a baby sitter. Your fellow diners will thank you.
So travel. Have fun. Make the trip what you set out for it to be: as relaxing as possible.
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Not only should you pack your manners when you travel, you should wear your smile at all times. You’ll have a better time and your servers will give you more.
Peter