THE 

BAD-
TITUDES

J. N. Halm
 DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

Curbing the BADTITUDES!!

By J. N. Halm
My job a ords me the opportunity to move around a lot. It is that part of the job that I love so much.
As I move around I tend to pick up little incidents and stories here and there on the customer service
situation in the country. Some of the stories are very grave, even bordering on criminality while others
seem not so serious but could also lead to the loss of business opportunities and customers, in the long
run. I would sound like a broken record if I go into the dearth of professional customer service in the
country’s business circles. We all know it; we all complain about it and we all do nothing about it.

Recently, I was in Accra Central to shop for my little girl. I entered a mothercare shop around UTC
and after going through the items on display I picked out a particular dress. The shop attendant
informed me that I was to wait as she went inside to get me the dress because, according to her, the one
hanging, which I had chosen was simply “for display.” I obediently stood outside and waited for just
over ten minutes.

However, the wait seemed like hours. After about twelve minutes, my patience ran out and I decided
to walk away. To my surprise none of the other attendants bothered to convince me to change my
mind. They just went about their normal duties as if I was not there. Obviously, they could do without
my money. As I got to the gate, this lady nally comes out and realising I was leaving, rather lost her
temper at me. Her attitude was so bad I simply left without saying a word. She was acting as if she was
rather doing me a favour.

DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

 DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

After a careful observation of all the myriad of bad customer service stories I have heard and even
experienced, I have come to a conclusion that the underlying reason for much of the bad customer
service practices in this country is ATTITUDE! A bad attitude (badtitude) can ruin a customer’s
experience faster than any single factor. Recently, I chanced on this interesting statistic: Almost 70
percent of the identi able reasons why customers left typical companies had nothing to do with the
product. Service quality issues make up the bulk of the reasons and a host of these reasons are due to
the badtitutes of service people. Attitude is all that makes the di erence between a woeful customer
experience and a wow-ful experience.

We are told that attitudes are an inward feelings, positive or negative, expressed by outward behaviour.
By our attitudes we either tend to be mostly optimistic or pessimistic about issues. It seems there are
some service people who are, by their very nature, pessimists. They see nothing positive in life. These
are the people who dish out horrible customer experiences on a daily basis. It is as if they hate to see
others happy. I have met quite a lot in my eld of work. They are the individuals who hate Monday
mornings and wish they stayed in bed instead.

"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set
of attitudes." (Hugh Downs, retired American broadcaster, television host, producer, and author.)

It may also be that these bad performers are angry at their jobs. They might hate the very thought of
serving us and that might explain why they behave in such distasteful ways. The following are some of
the BADTITUDES business leaders need to look out for and curb if they wish to lead organisations
that would o er Exceptional Customer Service, Always!

DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

 DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

I’m better than this customer

This is a dangerous attitude to develop as a business professional. It is this bad attitude that causes
business people to look down on customers. I am of always wary when dealing with strangers. You
never know who you are dealing with. It is dangerous to “judge a book” by its cover and proceed to act
accordingly. I have been in banking halls where the ‘less-educated’ customers were treated as if they
were privileged to have been allowed into a bank. This attitude smacks of arrogance and is a canker that
must be dealt with by business leaders.

I’m not here to serve you

This is another of the badtitudes that we have to deal with. Many employees have the mentality that
since the business is providing a service or product to the customer, it is the customer who owes
courtesy and service to the business. This is so wrong. Every business exists to serve. If you feel you are
above serving customers, no matter who they are, you must do the nation a favour and close shop. I
believe we have all experienced great service once in a while. You would realise that individuals who
o ered those great experiences were willing to go out of their way to be of help. Even when it is not in
their power to help, they exhibit signs that they are willing to do all that they can to make us happy.

I was not employed by you

This is another of the shocking badtitudes I have come across. I once witnessed an argument between a
customer and a business professional. The business person was engaged in a shouting match with the
customer about an issue. The customer threatened to “take the matter up.” To my surprise, the
business o cial snapped back at the customer that since it was not the customer that employed him,
the customer can go to *%^£”! No matter how angry a customer gets you, there are more professional
ways of handling customers. With an attitude like that of this gentleman, you are surely looking for
trouble, because after all, it is the customer that gets you paid.

DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

 DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

I don’t need these customers

It is pretty amazing they way some people think when they sit in their o ces. They behave like
demigods with no respect whatsoever for customers. They mistreat and maltreat visitors and customers
alike, without any thought as to who actually pays their salaries. These are the individuals who treat
customers like plagues that have to be avoided. I sent my secretary out on an errand and she came to
report that for the ten to fteen minutes that she was conversing with the lady she met, the lady never
lifted her eyes up to look at her. My secretary said she felt as if she was interrupting the lady’s work.
No matter how busy you are, you owe it to yourself and your business to lift your head and welcome
EVERY customer with a smile when they walk into your o ce-even if the customer owes the company
money.

I am not to blame for this problem

On more than occasion, I have spoken out against inter-departmental feuds being displayed in front of
customers. It is an unprofessional attitude to blame other colleagues for a problem the customer is
facing. Doing so does not necessarily throw you in a good light. As a matter of fact, it tarnishes the
reputation of the entire organisation. No department is seen as a separate entity by customers, so it is
important that such badtitudes are erased. They are better of ways of handling customer complaints
and issues than the blame game.

I am not paid high enough to treat you well

The payment of salaries to employees, regardless of how well they treat customers has birthed this
erroneous impression by some people that if you are not paid as much as you believe you deserve, you
can treat customers any how. I have worked with colleagues who had that mentality and it dictated
their attitudes towards customers. Such workers will not go out of their way to treat customers as
special folks because their salaries do not excite them enough.

DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

 DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

I can’t help it; I’m not in a good mood

The tendency to want to blame external conditions for our attitude creates many of the customer care
issues we face in this country. What many employees forget is that the customer should not be made to
pay for whatever incident might have spoilt your day. You have to still give customers the best of
services, no matter what day of the week or what time of day. This includes Friday afternoon at
2:30pm.

So there you have them; seven of the badtitudes that employees exhibit to customers on a regular basis.
I am sure that readers might have a longer list than mine.

Interestingly, I am of the view that attitude cannot be taught. It can only be encouraged. As a
professional business coach I may be able to touch on certain aspects ‘attitude’ as a concept. I may also
be able to teach customer service sta ‘attitude-awareness’; but ‘attitude’ in itself cannot be ‘taught’.
The good attitude that an organisation aspires for its employees can be commonly experienced within
the organisation– but it is not something that can be taught in a classroom. You can decide to have a
great attitude or you can decide otherwise. The power is YOURS!

DESIGNING UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCES

J. N. Halm
J. N. Halm is an award-winning service experience consultant and
trainer. He works with both small and big businesses in the areas of
service experience management, business development, product
merchandising, customer acquisition and retention strategies,
corporate communications and image management. He has extensive
experience in banking and communications and has ran training
seminars for Amalgamated Bank Limited, Zenith Bank Limited,
Agricultural Dev't Bank, StarLife Assurance Company, Best Western
Premier Accra Airport Hotel, amongst others.

J. N. Halm is a proli c writer and a columnist for Business and

Financial Times, Ghana’s top business newspaper. He is also the
author of two award-winning books, CUSTOMER ROMANCE
and SERVICE SINS. He won the Service Excellence Leader Award at
the 2019 Global Brands Awards, held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He has contributed chapters to a number of acclaimed academic

textbooks such as Customer Service Management in Africa (2020),
Digital Service Delivery in Africa: Platforms and Practices (2022) and
Marketing Communications and Brand Development in Emerging
Economies (2022).

Mr. Halm holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture with a

specialization in Agricultural Economics from KNUST. He also holds
a Master of Philosophy degree in Communication Studies from the
University of Ghana. He has post-graduate certi cates in Public
Relations, Customer Service, Human Resource Management, etc.