I hate to break it to you, Mike Demers, but your generalizations of people age 25 and younger in your column What’s Wrong With Customer Service? portrayed a very poor example of the majority of working young people today. I happen to be in the demographic of people whom you described as “lacking in customer service skills,” and I feel that making this generalization after a few bad experiences with a handful of 20-somethings results in a very weak argument.
In your column, you provide an example of a friend who ordered a game cartridge online. He didn’t pay for it online, so he had to go to the retailer to purchase it and take it home. OK, so far so good.
Your friend then finds a coupon in the newspaper for a discount on the game and takes it into the store to redeem it on his ordered item. The young cashier explains that he can’t receive the discount because the game was ordered online and your friend becomes angry. What I don’t understand is that your friend would have to go into the store anyway to purchase the game, so why order it online in the first place? He could have
redeemed the coupon without any problems if he simply would have gone into the store and picked the game right off the shelf to begin with. Whatever happened to a simple phone call to ask if the game is in stock? To say that it was the young employee’s fault isn’t fair. If the employee was 40, 50 or 60, your friend would still be mad and have what he might call a “bad experience.”
You “old guys” think you know it all and are the best at what you do, but guess what? There is a generation of us 25 and younger growing smarter and stronger every day. The “children” of OBDII are now the fast movers, and we are seeing the old “points and condenser crowd” start to break down. I think us young people deserve more credit than you older guys give us. A poorly trained employee and non-educated customer will almost always result in disastrous results for both parties, but that certainly doesn’t depend on age.
Providing excellent service to my customers is my top priority. I frequently get told how nice it is to deal with a young, enthusiastic employee who provides a fresh outlook on the industry. Have your glory till AARP gets your money.
— Jonathan Van Dorn
ALL SMILES
I thoroughly enjoyed Mike Demers’ article "You Might Be a Parts Pro If…"
All the things he mentioned are true. How about this one: You know you’re a parts pro if you know what an “opinion bearing” is? Thanks for the humor to brighten up the day!
— Sue Evans, Fisher AP, Oakland, MD
A HELPFUL TOOL
Counterman is a very good tool to have when working in auto parts sales because I get so many people asking about product. I can almost always find some helpful information in the pages of Counterman.
— Leslie Hemmingway, Parts Sales Manager, AutoZone, Brockton, MA
