things i don't understand: part 6

this week's thing i don't understand is customer service. or, more accurately, the lack of customer service. i will offer a single example, but i feel it could easily be applied to most service-based industries. first, what is the definition of customer service? i mean, the actual definition, not how a company 'defines' it. according to wikipedia (yes, i know it's not exactly the best of sources, but it will have to do) customer service is "...a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_service). so where is it? for instance, one of the last times i bought coffee i ordered a vanilla latte. well, after enduring one of the longest monologues known to man about how this store's coffee was far superior to that of any run-of-the-mill coffee shop, the barista told me he could put vanilla syrup in my coffe, but only i "wanted it to taste like s***." well, of course i don't want my coffee to taste terrible, but why offer the vanilla syrup at your shop if won't allow customers to consume it? not only that, but the last time i checked i was the customer and i placed the order, this wasn't a suggestion. now i understand that the barista was simply trying to provide what he thought was customer service by protecting me from what he felt was inferior means of consuming coffee. yet, he could have said that instead of his blasting a drink i thoroughly enjoy on occasion. he could have said, "dude, i totally understand that you may normally adore vanilla in your coffee, however i feel it my duty to inform you that our syrup is not up to my standards of syrups/our syrup is rancid/our coffee is best enjoyed devoid of syrups/etc. i will still serve you what you requested, but i felt i should make you aware of this before doing so." that would have been great. instead though, i was made to feel i was an idiot because i wanted to add vanilla to my coffee. i never want to feel as though i'm stupid for ordering something (even if i am--note my ordering of two number 10's from mcdonald's, both with diet cokes). i may be stupid and my order may be the most asinine of orders, but please spare me the condescending diatribe and just prepare my order, just as i ordered it. i have not returned to this particular coffee shop. i have, on the other hand, purchased and consumed many a vanilla latte from several other area coffee shops.

i could continue my rant with various other examples of how customer service seems to be deteriorating and morphing into customer annoyance, but i will refrain. i simply don't understand where customer service has gone. i sure wish it return and bring me a vanilla latte.