Just Cured - Experience Fine Foods

Much has been made of the transformation of the U.S. economy from its manufacturing base to one of “service.”† Well, this weekend, I suffered through too many instances of the new economy’s version of customer service.

I endured four circles of voice mail hell yesterday before being transferred to a polite woman.† All that to speak the four digits that updated the expiration date of my credit card on file with New York’s E-Z Pass authority.† Of course, had I remembered my six digit account number and four digit PIN, I would not have needed customer service at all; I could have served myself by updating my information online.† All of which she impatiently reminded before agreeing to do what I called for.

I had a similar experience with the cable company.† Don’t even get me started on the airlines.

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In many industries customer service doesn’t exist any longer.† In the push to increase productivity and reduce headcounts, the companies with which we do business have pushed customer service back to the consumer.† I am sure that the companies find this to be terribly efficient.† The trouble is, I don’t.† They save thousands (or tens of thousands) of man hours by forcing us to invest increments of minutes, usually quite inefficiently.† We are directed to a poorly designed web site to search for answers to simple questions.† We must listen to complex menus of call center options, none of which describes precisely the purpose of our calls, and guess which menu choice leads to a live person and which to an automated system that invariably perfoms a function other than the one required.

This new model of customer service represents service by a thousand frustrations.† Yes, it is wonderfully efficient, dare I say even liberating, to use these self service systems when we know our precise needs and have all the necessary inputs at hand.† But, when we don’t know what we need, we require service from the companies we patronize — not another email form or level of cascading menus.

I suppose that I am frustrated because this self service model bears such stark contrast to the brand of guest service I experienced last week.† My wife and I got away for a few days to visit one of our favorite parts of the country, the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York, and some of our favorite people, the staff at the Lake Placid Lodge.

The Lodge is in the throes of a re-opening after a devastating fire destroyed the original main lodge buildings nearly three years ago.† They are opening spaces in the building as the contractors finish the spaces with a complete re-opening scheduled for December 15.† I could, and should, be impressed by — and describe in detail here — the fantastic design of the new building, or the fine craftsmanship evidenced in the construction, or the exquisite materials incorporated, or the beautiful new china, silver, crystal and linens, or the food that is as beautiful as it is tasty.† The one thing, however, that continues to impress me is how the people who work there make me feel — that they are committed to serve me both as a guest and as a person.

It makes no difference whether I interact with a staff member I have known for years or for minutes.† They know not only my name, but that I prefer to be called by my first name rather than Mr. or a shortened version of my first name; which tea I prefer; where I like to sit and read and the newspapers I read; what I drink before dinner; the few foods I don’t particularly enjoy; and countless other details.† They act on my preferences seemingly without effort.

That the house cares enough to collect, disseminate and use this information makes me feel that my patronage is important to their business.† The staff’s willingness to share a bit of themselves makes me feel that each member cares about me as a person. From one’s love of watching the brown trout swim up the brooks to spawn and his favorite place to watch, to another’s picture of her leashed cat’s rubbing noses with a deer, and from a chef’s sharing how he developed a special dish, to the GM’s golden retriever’s adopting us for daily hikes, they draw me into their lives and their passion to serve.

You arrive at this place as a customer and leave as a member of an extended family.† That’s a kind of customer service that is almost unheard of but that others should aspire to — and a joy to experience first hand.