Should Being “Polite” and “Nice” be Part of Efficient, Professional Customer Service?

The Lebanese, especially the men, are not a people conducive to smiling.  Many seem to be keen on maintaining a sense of personal gravitas through almost a poker face, staring down others in serious expressions that may easily frighten the clueless.  Any smile that come out of such situation probably borders more on the sneer to the point of ridicule, rather than anything that can remotely be taken as courtesy or congeniality.  If anything, smiling between strangers should be avoided in certain cases, for fear that it is taken as a personal offence in disguise.

The tendency to not smile is especially memorable when it comes to customer service.  To those not used to it, the lack of smile from the customer service agents may seem put-offish, if not outright hostile.  Such impression is easily exacerbated when verbal interaction is undertaken.  A poker face and a straightforward, no-nonsense style of speech can quickly come off as confrontational, where the customer needs to resentfully back off from excess demands or questioning.  The author, for one, careless enough to directly question his hotel bill, felt aggressiveness of the staff a bit too directly.

Indeed, having grown up and worked in the Japanese environment, the author often, and no subtly, holds the Japanese way of customer service as the golden standard that all countries should be moving toward.  Customer service, he was taught by experience, is only good if the customer is not suggested to be incorrect, but instead persuaded to take the position of the customer service agent.  In the process, being polite and nice often becomes the key for resolving conflicts.  Smiling, as such, is indispensable as lubricant for customer relations.

It should be acknowledged, however, such a way of catering to customer needs through courtesy and niceties are not the most efficient way.  Stubborn customers abound, and politeness of the staff can at times be taken as weakness of position, making the customer even less willing to compromise from original position.  Long verbal persuasion not only waste time for both sides, but may in the process incur serious psychological damage to the customer service personnel as angry customer escalate into verbal abuse while fighting back remain a professional taboo.

Such inefficiencies can easily be avoided in the Lebanese case.  The customer service agent would often preempt any angry confrontation by stubborn customers, with tense words of his own.  By forcing customers to restrain themselves, the customer service agent can bring the situation back down to what it is at the most basic level: a business transition between two equal parties, one providing money and other a service.  By putting the customer in his/her place, the customer service personnel can get his points across and push the desired output to the customer with few inconvenient exceptions.

Whether the sacrificing of “polite” and “nice” in the process is a “good” or “bad” thing ultimately depends on whether the trade-off is worth it.  In the Lebanese case, the answer mostly seems to be on the affirmative.  Locals seem to care little about how they are treated by the customer service personnel, instead going straight to discussing the desirable results versus what can be offered to them.  By quickly knowing each other’s bottom-line and coming to a compromise based on what each side can give or take, the transaction can quickly come to a rather desirable end. 

Both sides are happy about the speed of the execution and the results, so very little afterthought is given on how the process went.  Honestly, often there is very little afterthought, period, as both sides quickly move on to their next needs to deal with other people.  At first paradoxical, the Lebanese’s slow, relaxing lifestyle, with hours spent on chatting and smoking shisha, actually may go well with the terseness of customer service: less time spent on unpleasant dealing with strangers to get things done can mean more time spent in more friendly terms with people they love.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that different attitude toward what defines “good” customer service does not detract from the fact that the Lebanese remain a friendly people.  As serious and harsh-sounding as they may sound, when help is asked, not just professional customer service people, but also completely random strangers, will often oblige with expediency.  Despite language barriers, they will go great lengths to make sure the foreigner get the intended outputs.  Such dedication can probably make up for any failure to smile or be nice.