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Peter Smith: A Tip to the Post Office on Workplace Culture
Smith recounts a recent trip to the post office that included an uncomfortable, embarrassing, and public exchange between two employees.
Peter Smith is an industry consultant, speaker, sales trainer, and author. He can be reached via email at TheRetailSmiths@gmail.com.
In “Digital Darwinism,” Tom Goodwin wrote, “In some ways culture is defined by the worst behavior you tolerate and the things you celebrate.”
I witnessed the former last Saturday on one of my (mercifully) infrequent visits to my local post office.
My errand started promisingly enough, as there was not one single other customer in the post office when I arrived.
I approached the clerk with a warm smile and offered a sincere “good morning.”
She responded in less-than-enthusiastic fashion, noticing the large bag of packages I was carrying, about 40 books as it happens, each to be mailed via media mail.
If you’ve never used media mail to send a bunch of books, I can tell you the experience is a throwback to a best forgotten bygone era.
Each package must be manually entered into the post office’s system, which then spits out (and I use that term loosely) not one but two separate sticky labels to be affixed to each package.
Since my 40 packages were going to 40 different addresses, you can picture the scene.
Oh, did I mention that as soon as the clerk began to process my order, the label machine went on the fritz, requiring a reloading after every single label?
And then the customers began to arrive.
First one, then four, and before long, about a dozen people, all staring daggers at the guy with the big bag of packages and elevating the stress levels of the clerk who was, to be fair, doing her very best to keep up.
Related stories will be right here …
I witnessed the former last Saturday on one of my (mercifully) infrequent visits to my local post office.
My errand started promisingly enough, as there was not one single other customer in the post office when I arrived.
I approached the clerk with a warm smile and offered a sincere “good morning.”
She responded in less-than-enthusiastic fashion, noticing the large bag of packages I was carrying, about 40 books as it happens, each to be mailed via media mail.
If you’ve never used media mail to send a bunch of books, I can tell you the experience is a throwback to a best forgotten bygone era.
Each package must be manually entered into the post office’s system, which then spits out (and I use that term loosely) not one but two separate sticky labels to be affixed to each package.
Since my 40 packages were going to 40 different addresses, you can picture the scene.
Oh, did I mention that as soon as the clerk began to process my order, the label machine went on the fritz, requiring a reloading after every single label?
And then the customers began to arrive.
First one, then four, and before long, about a dozen people, all staring daggers at the guy with the big bag of packages and elevating the stress levels of the clerk who was, to be fair, doing her very best to keep up.
This is when things really got interesting.
Another clerk strolled out from behind the partition, where they presumably keep the other clerks.
She carried a beverage in her hand, and when my clerk asked her for help, she replied, “I’m on break,” and returned to the sanctity of the back of house, eliciting a collective gasp from the assembled line of customers.
For context, more than 40 minutes later, she was still “on break.”
I indicated to the clerk that she should cash me out, and I’d step aside to allow her to handle some of the assembled customers, many of whom might want no more than a stamp.
As I waited off to the side while the clerk processed the line of people, I couldn’t help but think about the reaction of her colleague.
I thought about culture and how organizations and companies are often defined by the smallest gestures from a front-line employee.
That second clerk wasn’t just disrespecting the dozen or so customers who were waiting to conduct their business so they could get on with the rest of their Saturday; she was publicly disrespecting her co-worker.
“[Your culture] becomes your brand and if it is bad, the stigma takes a whole lot longer to erase than it did to attach.” — Peter Smith, The Retail Smiths
We can define culture in any number of ways, and there is always an element of chicken and egg.
Is the culture poor because of bad actors, or are there bad actors because of a weak culture?
How bad does a culture need to be for an employee to feel OK about humiliating a colleague in public?
In many respects, why such a culture happens is less interesting than the powerful effects it has on consumer perception.
Slighted customers won’t rationalize your staff shortages, poor scheduling, or communication or management shortcomings.
Their response is often immediate and visceral, and the takeaway has a long life. We don’t quickly forget bad experiences, and we are apt to share them with others repeatedly.
You can’t own your culture if you’re making excuses for bad actors. And if we don’t own our culture, I might argue that little else really matters.
Whether that culture is one of high-performance, under-performance, high-touch service, or indifference, it becomes your brand and if it is bad, the stigma takes a whole lot longer to erase than it did to attach.
Every single customer touchpoint must feature the highest level of service. Today’s watch strap, battery, or repair can turn into a generational relationship.
Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, said, “What goes on in the workplace gets transmitted to your customers one way or another … A workplace that is full of joy and spirit of generosity gets communicated.”
That spirit of generosity starts with how our people treat each other, whether back of house or front of house.
Happy retailing!
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