Can I get some customer service please

British journalist Alastair Cooke once said, “A professional is a person who can do his best at a time when he doesn’t particularly feel like it.” This quote should be plastered around the offices on the campus of Southern University to remind the individuals that work here to remember the greater cause for their employment: the students! If there were no students, there would be no support offices or academic staff. There would be no Southern. It is my hope to purvey in this editorial the constant need for good customer service. This is the foundation upon which our retention blueprint should, and must be built.
We have all experienced the rudeness and unprofessionalism that serve as dissuaders to a student’s academic matriculation. I am not saying that life will not have roadblocks, but the sinkholes that surround the Baton Rouge campus serve to dissuade many students from remaining.
I did say I was going to be honest and I think I would do that best by naming the offices in which my friends and I have experienced poor customer service. The most problematic of these areas include: Financial Aid, Residential Housing, Cashiers, Food Services and the Office of the Registrar.
The first of these concerns is how professionals lack an appropriate greeting when patrons enter an office on this campus. One is greeted with “What do you want?”, “Yes?”, “We busy”, “We at lunch” and “I don’t know”. It is imperative to realize that a first impression is a lasting impression. This deficient greeting is sometimes followed by gross incompetence or laziness.
For those that are unaware of what a proper greeting would sound like, here are examples: “Hello, how are you? How may I help you today?” I think by uttering these few words it will make guests in an office feel welcomed. Students get sent on the run around trying to take care of simple matters due the incompetence that we as students are accustomed to. This should not be. An INCOMPETENT PROFESSIONAL, who is really not a professional at all, not knowing how to properly direct a patron about their question or issue can be addressed and categorized as ineptitude. It should also be noted that a person’s disposition should be courteous no matter their current situation.
The King James Version of the Bible in Corinthians 13:11 it says “When I was a child, I spoke as a child…when I became a man, I put away childish things.” This should be applied to everything we do as professionals, because we were not promised days without trouble. Every student pays their tuition and they should be afforded some sort of courtesy; if enrollment drops so does the need for staff.
Who is ready to lose their job just because they could not be respectful? If we do not make customer service our top priority then we will continue to decline in the area of enrollment.
At a town hall meeting last semester Interim Chancellor Margaret Ambrose implied that The DIGEST should be writing about the positive things on campus instead of focusing on the negative. I would say that instead of telling the students what to write our administration should do their jobs and correct the problems.
If not, be prepared to read about it in the paper, because as long as I can bring the issues to the forefront rest assured that I will without hesitation.
I would be doing a great disservice to complain without solution. I offer these suggestions in the hope that they can help propel our institution to greater heights.
First, have a campus wide forum on customer service as it pertains to students for employees of the institution. Second, take serious the concerns and complaints of the students by making sure the problems are not reoccurring.
Third, ensure that employees are properly counseled and written up when necessary. Fourth, insure that the reporting directors and vice-chancellors do periodic checks on their division.
Fifth, reward your employees for good customer service. Sixth, establish a written policy with regards to customer service that can be used as an unwavering standard. Seventh, my grandmother always said, “Good morning and good afternoon is for everyone,” so say hello to office guests.
FINALLY, FIRE THOSE PEOPLE THAT DO NOT FALL IN LINE WITH THE UNIVERSITY POLICY ON CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Termination should not be the only recourse, but it should be exercised in some situations thus encouraging a positive customer service environment from those that remain. Ms. Frank in the registrar’s office and Ms. Clara in food service are fine examples of how professionalism should be displayed by a member of the SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY FAMILY. Can we get them to teach a class on the subject matter?
Basically, I am just saying if you are doing your job, thanks, and if you’re not then you need to get on it. As for me, I will continue to write about these issues like it or not because I would be a fool and sell out to sit idly by and watch our institution of higher education be destroyed because of the lacking response by the administration of the Baton Rouge campus.