You start your morning running late and sprint into your local coffee shop for your morning cup of joe. As you breathlessly place your order, you notice the barista doesn’t smile at you. She utters a flat, “Here you go” as she hands you the steaming cup. “Why didn’t she put the cardboard sleeve around it?” you wonder irritably, as she moves on robotically to the next customer. As you bolt for the door, hands burning, you think, “Well, she was unfriendly... when did customer service get so terrible?”

It’s true, as the way our society does business has changed, customer service in general has fallen into crisis mode. But in the case of the rude barista, ask yourself this: Did you look her in the eye? Did you say, “Good morning?” Did you say “please” or “thank you?” In short, how much of the bad service experience do you have to own?

Often, we get poor service because we’re poor customers. It’s a two-way street. When we’re rude or impersonal to service providers, we get rude and impersonal treatment back. This creates low expectations on both sides, which affects our next service interactions.

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