Stooping low: Advice to 7-ELEVEN – less employee bowing, more Slurpee machines
Who knows what bowing could lead to?
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7-ELEVEN ranks among my favorite franchises because it is clean and well-lit, is open 24 hours a day, and offers a good selection of foods, beverages, publications, and daily necessities. But I don’t like this recent practice of employees bowing to customers. Beijing ren bowing? Are you kidding? What’s next? Kowtowing?
A recent visit to my neighborhood 7-ELEVEN showed how misplaced is this behavior. I saw a group of trainees practicing some bowing and then shouting things such as “welcome!”, “come again!”, and “sorry, we once again have no copies of China Daily!”, all while blocking the beverage and food coolers. I uttered “excuse me” several times, and eventually pushed past the trainees, so that I could, you know, buy stuff and put money into the company that will provide them paychecks.
7-ELEVEN, here is my advice for improving customer service:
1. Stop the bowing: it makes me feel uncomfortable and does nothing to make my experience at your store better.
2. Train employees how to properly pack my purchases in that two-mao bag. (Hint: The sandwiches should not be placed under the large bottle of water.)
3. Follow your fellow franchies in other countries and get some Slurpee machines.
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