One of the great pleasures of living in the Hudson Valley, and having meetings in NYC, is the AMTRAK ride down the Hudson Valley.  That pleasure has been someone lessened in the past year as AMTRAK has seen fit to close the snack bar (we’re talking cheese and crackers, wine, beer, etc).  But on this morning’s ride, it was opened, and manned by a man named “Gerald”.

As soon as passengers boarded his train, he was offering assistance, info,  and helpful tips.  Later, when the snack bar closed, I asked Gerald how it was that he seemed to like his job so much.  “Actually,” he replied, “I can’t wait to retire”.

When pressed on why he was so very cheerful and helpful, he said, “I just treat people the way I’d like to be treated”.

So, here’s a guy who is looking forward to NOT working, but still provides the greatest customer service (with a smile) that I’ve witnessed in the past year.  If the formula for GREAT customer service is that easy, why isn’t it more prevalant?   How can we institutionalize Gerald’s attitudes?

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Customer Service. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.