Friendliness be damnedāI see it as a sham
By Jacey Gibb, Opinions Editor
Service with a smile: itās not always what Iām looking for in my commercial exchanges. Sure, I often enjoy it when employees arenāt miserable meat bags and genuinely care about their jobs. If a worker is pleasant enough during a transaction, I find that it can even help brighten my day. But some places take their interpretation of what they believe to be āgood customer serviceā too far.
The biggest offender of this malpractice in my life right now is TD Canada Trust. Iāve banked with these folks for almost my whole life and while weāve had our differences, I would give our relationship a solid B+. But in the last few years, Iāve noticed a terrible transition occur: the rise of mindless small talk.
Personally, Iām a fan of aimless banter between two humans, hence my affection for Quentin Tarantino, but not when itās a mundane exchange where one of the parties involved is strictly concerned with maintaining their source of income. āSo you headed to the office today?ā āAre you in school? What are you taking?ā āYouāre the most handsome customer Iāve ever had. Are you a male model?ā Iām constantly bombarded with these conversation topics that are impossible to completely flesh out in the time that it takes to withdraw $60. They care about where Iām āoff to after thisā as much as I care about what they packed for lunch today.
As terribly dead-ended as this can be though, I feel like this whole exchange is merely foreplay to the ultimate punchline: when I finally receive whatever meager funds were lurking in my account, the teller throws in a sly āand how was the service today?ā
And you thought glass was transparentāwait till you get a load of TDās customer service strategies.
Feedbackās an important part of any business, I understand that. Forcing small talk is one thing; forcing small talk and then immediately revealing your motives is another. Of course these people are being paid to provide me with a service, but I donāt need a verbal reminder that theyāre simply on the clock and doing their job. And here I thought it was just a normal exchange between two humans, with one party heavily more invested than the other. It just makes the whole experience seem insincere.
I know that not everyone is customer service savvy and that jobs usually require people to do things that exist outside of their comfort zone, but making it mandatory for employees to engage in awkward small talk doesnāt help create a more welcoming environment, but rather the opposite. Apparently TD is the winner of the Synovate Best Banking award for Customer Service Excellence again this year and has been for the last six (not that theyāre bragging or anything) so apparently people like what theyāre doingābut the false modesty just isnāt for me.
Because of the forced, often dead-end conversations I experience at the counter, Iāve started going straight to the ATMs found near the entrance for all my dollardispensing needs. While the machines might not have as many Synovate Best Banking awards, at least they donāt ask me how the service was today.