The Customer is always right
“Assume that the customer is right until it is plain beyond all question he is not.”[1]
Work experience is crucial for developing skills and gaining experience within your preferred workplace and will aid in your success and help “prepare you for a fulfilling career in your desired field. Gaining work experience, even as a volunteer or an intern, will also help you start developing a professional network that can help you obtain another job in the future.”[2] For this reason I completed my work experience within the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. As a current drama student at Queens University, it is my ambition upon graduation to attain a career within Northern Ireland Theatre.
I completed my work experience within the Lyric Theatre as FOH staff. This entailed working in the bar, serving, and greeting customers as well as cast members of the current productions that were ongoing within the theatre. Upon reflection of this work experience I will be using the Gibbs reflective cycle. The opportunity to work as FOH staff taught me the importance of customer service and what good customer service involves.
The universal maxim, by Harry Gordon Selfridge, “The customer Is always right,” is vital when understanding how to appropriately deal with a customer or a complaint. The principles of good complaint handling according to The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman can be broken into six sections, “Getting it right, being customer focused, being open and accountable, acting fairly and proportionately, putting things right, seeking continuous improvement.”[3] Considering this statement of the customer always being right, during my work experience, I endured an extraordinary night within the theatre in which the audience were the source of a dramatic conflict. This disruption caused an abrupt end and cancellation of the second act of NI Opera’s production of ‘Into the Woods’. This event was documented and received coverage from the national arts and consequently became the most shared and commented on feature within the local press and the local newspapers. This publicity urged the Arts Council to respond on twitter due to the overall event being an extremely unpleasant, challenging, and confrontational experience. The event I am referring to was a private corporate event which was in support of a Belfast Medical Facility. This shift entailed managing a 300+ audience of ‘difficult’ customers many of which turned up to the private event inebriated.
This event was reported, and documented by, The Belfast Telegraph, titled “Show at Lyric Theatre cut short after cast complain about behaviour of audience”[4]; as well as The Irish Times titled, “Production at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre halted following alleged disruptive behaviour by audience members.”[5] The Irish Times description of the event was as follows, “Reports suggest that cast members at the Ridgeway Street theatre complained that audience members were repeatedly talking and moving about the theatre during the first part of the show.”[6] Furthermore, The Belfast Telegraph stated, “that front of house staff also reported that they were being abused as they tried to appeal to some audience members to be quiet and to stop drinking in the auditorium.”[7]
Therefore, I had to put similar principles into place to avoid a customer complaint while dealing with a ‘difficult’ customer. For example, I had customers coming behind my bar stand in the attempt to pour their own drinks, as according to them ‘I wasn’t working fast enough’. This was infuriating, so I had to put into practise the dealing with a ‘difficult’ I gained but on a larger scale because previously the customer experience of difficult customers is almost always encountered as individuals. This made the experience an overwhelming challenge, especially because it was without precedent.
The feelings I experienced during this shift of anger and frustration for the complete lack of respect from medical professionals towards the arts was overwhelming. They did this by slandering the art of theatre by stating it wasn’t as difficult as open-heart surgery. However, through teamwork and guidance from my incredible management staff I was able to remain calm, professional and to smile most importantly, no matter what was said towards me whether it was abusive, rude, or unjust. For example, when customers attempted to threaten me by stating that they were paying me. A ludicrous statement, that I had respond to calmy with a smile on my face despite the stress it manifested.
Upon evaluation, this extraordinary shift was historic as a show has not been abandoned in over 50 years. This created an opportunity for me in which I gained a variety of customer service experience from dealing with arguably the most difficult audience to ever attend the theatre. Overall, this experience has taught me the valuable difference between “the customer is always right” and “Assume that the customer is right until it is plain beyond all question he is not.”[8]
Bibliography
[1] Sales force, 7 Best Practices for Top-Notch Customer Service, 2020 [Online] Available at: https://www.salesforce.com/resources/articles/customer-service-best-practices/?sfdc-redirect=461#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20customer%20is%20always%20right.%E2%80%9D%20As%20mentioned%2C%20this,is%20plain%20beyond%20all%20question%20he%20is%20not.%E2%80%9D [Accessed 31st March 2022]
[2] Indeed, Work Experience and Your Career: Definition, Importance and Tips, 2020 [Online] Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/work-experience [Accessed 31st March 2022]
[3] The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Principles of Good Complaint Handling, 2009 [Online] Available at: https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/page/0188-Principles-of-Good-Complaint-Handling-bookletweb.pdf [Accessed 31st March 2022]
[4] Ivan Little and Andrew Madden, Show at Lyric Theatre cut short after cast complain about behaviour of audience, The Belfast Telegraph, 2022 [Online] Available at: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/show-at-lyric-theatre-cut-short-after-cast-complain-about-behaviour-of-audience-41368451.html [ Accessed 1st April 2022]
[5] SUZANNE MCGONAGLE, Production at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre halted following alleged disruptive behaviour by audience members. The Irish Times, 2022 [Online] Available at: https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2022/02/23/news/production-at-belfast-s-lyric-theatre-halted-following-alleged-disruptive-behaviour-by-audience-members-2595861/ [Accessed 31st March 2022]
[6] SUZANNE MCGONAGLE, Production at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre halted following alleged disruptive behaviour by audience members. The Irish Times, 2022 [Online] Available at: https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2022/02/23/news/production-at-belfast-s-lyric-theatre-halted-following-alleged-disruptive-behaviour-by-audience-members-2595861/ [Accessed 31st March 2022]
[7] Ivan Little and Andrew Madden, Show at Lyric Theatre cut short after cast complain about behaviour of audience, The Belfast Telegraph, 2022 [Online] Available at: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/theatre-arts/show-at-lyric-theatre-cut-short-after-cast-complain-about-behaviour-of-audience-41368451.html [ Accessed 1st April 2022]
[8] Sales force, 7 Best Practices for Top-Notch Customer Service, 2020 [Online] Available at: https://www.salesforce.com/resources/articles/customer-service-best-practices/?sfdc-redirect=461#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20customer%20is%20always%20right.%E2%80%9D%20As%20mentioned%2C%20this,is%20plain%20beyond%20all%20question%20he%20is%20not.%E2%80%9D [Accessed 31st March 2022]
You May Also Like
Teamwork Makes the Stream Work
Patience is a Virtue
