Your next trip to the craps table in Las Vegas could come with a bit more explanation after the American Gaming Association called on casino operator to better promote responsible gambling. [More]
training
Lack Of New Pilots Could Soon Leave Travelers With Fewer Options
By 6.20.17
Unless the aviation industry adds 255,000 more pilots in 10 years, airlines won’t be able to sustain their current growth rate or handle an expected increase in customer traffic. [More]
Delta Air Lines To Provide Diversity Training To All Employees
By 1.17.17
Between removing unruly or disruptive passengers from flights to denying boarding to travelers with service animals, the way in which airline employees handle tense situations with consumers has come to the forefront. Today, Delta Air Lines announced it would better prepare its employees for these encounters with diversity training. [More]
Following Richard Marx Heroics, Airline Eases Restrictions On Using Tasers On Unruly Passengers
By 12.27.16
A week after singer Richard Marx criticized Korean Air crew members as being “ill-equipped” to deal with unruly passengers after he helped subdue a fellow traveler on a flight from Vietnam to South Korea, the carrier says it will better train employees and allow them to use stun guns to manage in-flight disturbances. [More]
UPS Drivers Learn Advanced Safety Skills At “Quaker Boot Camp”
By 6.6.14
The Olive Garden has its Tuscan culinary school that really exists, but do other companies have special training resorts for their employees? If you’re an aspiring UPS driver, you can attend the company’s training boot camp in Maryland, where they learn everything from the “friendly honk” to why they should never turn left. [More]
Leaked Target Training Script Shows That The Company May Not Know What The Word “Amazing” Means
By 10.2.12
For millions of people, Target is seen as many things — convenient, low-priced, reasonably tasteful — but we have a hunch that most Target shoppers would use the word “amazing” to describe the Target shopping experience. And they certainly wouldn’t use it over and over and over again the way a leaked Target employee training script does. [More]
Mozy Wants To Explain Wireless Internets To You
By 8.16.10
You might think that a company like Mozy, which sells secure online backup services, would be able to troubleshoot common technical issues that are directly related to its business. After all, surely Heather isn’t the only customer to have problems with her initial backup hanging for several days in a row. But instead of offering useful assistance, Mozy’s tech support person told Heather that the problem was that “wireless internets don’t like lots of files flying through the air.” Wow, that must really cause problems with Mozy’s business model. [More]
Is Rudeness Inevitable In A Service Economy?
By 8.16.10
The funny thing about a service economy, writes Peggy Noonan at the Wall Street Journal, is that it’s created a world where people who interact with the public are deliberately trained to be rude and compassionless. She thinks it’s partly because we threw out manners right as we reached a cultural moment where we interact with strangers more than ever. But that’s only part of it–she also notes that clerks are trained to get in your face and aggressively push for higher sales, and that the dreaded “Dead Face”–that stony look that’s used to shut down any communication at all–is probably taught by consultants as an efficient way to handle people. [More]
J.C. Penney and Home Depot Discover Strange New Concept Called "Customer Service"
By 4.20.10
Whaaaaa? The Wall Street Journal says J.C. Penney and Home Depot have been investing in better customer service training, because apparently some egghead thinks it might increase sales. Penney started it back over the holiday shopping season, by giving cash bonuses to employees who improved their customer service scores. Home Depot should be rolling out some new improved customer interaction this month, where cashiers will ask if you found everything you needed and will call up the right department on your behalf if you didn’t. [More]
Hey, Is This An Apple Store, Or A Computer School?
By 2.21.10
Mark tells Consumerist that he noticed a disturbing trend while shopping at his local Apple Store this weekend. While using the display models and contemplating a purchase, he and his son were displaced twice to make room for a customer training session. Does the Apple Store still exist to sell computers, Mark wonders, or is it now primarily an educational institution? [More]
An Insider Look At Comcast's Customer Service Boot Camp
By 11.14.09
Travel with Consumer Watch columnist Jon Yates of the Chicago Tribune to the training ground of our nation’s elite. The few, the powerless, and the often berated: Comcast customer service representatives. Yates sat in on a training class for new reps, sat in on many live calls, and shared the secrets of agents’ formation. Sort of.
Rumble In The Strip Mall: Best Buy Calls Out Walmart
By 6.17.09
Sure, Best Buy emerged victorious over Circuit City in the Battle of the Big-Box Electronics Stores, but they still have to compete with general discounters like Walmart. Which is why in a new ad campaign, Best Buy calls out Walmart specifically, attacking their employees’ presumed lack of product knowledge compared to Best Buy employees.
This Comcast Rep Should Probably Not Be Talking To Customers
By 4.15.09
Hannah needs some more training, because her knowledge of Comcast’s bandwidth cap is less than Comcastic. We also think calling her an “analyst” is maybe stretching it a bit.
Office Depot To Employees: "Don't Lie About Inventory"
By 3.13.09
An anonymous Office Depot employee sent us this internal reminder from HQ that addresses this week’s allegations that associates and managers lie about inventory depending on the customer. Now the next time you’re told by an Office Depot associate that the laptop you want is out of stock, you can say, “Are you absolutely sure? Because I know you had a Sales Practices Reminder on March 12th about lying to customers.” And if a manager tries to get all up in, uhm, your grill area, you can say, “Don’t you have some tasks to go check off in your Task Manager?”
Icon Parking Accidentally Reveals Why Their Service Is Cheap
By 3.13.09
Eli Lansey took photos of recent Icon Parking ads on NYC subway cars and posted them on his blog. They promise customers “$10 for up to 10 hours” of parking at various lots in the city. Wow, that’s a good price! On the same ad they have a help wanted section that says they’re looking for employees, “no experience necessary.” Ah.
Pennsylvania Training Its State Liquor Store Employees To Be Nicer
By 3.10.09
If you buy your devil juice from Pennsylvania, you might notice a difference in the way you’re treated starting later this month. Pennsylvania is spending $173,000 to train employees of its state-owned liquor and wine stores to be more polite, reports PhillyBurbs.com: “The board wants to make sure clerks are saying ‘hello,’ ‘thank you’ and ‘come again’ to customers coming in for wine and liquor.”
Target Employee Incompetence Freezes Nearly $800 Of Customer's Money
By 3.10.09
Erica, who writes Philadelphia Weekly’s Style blog, went to Target this past Saturday to purchase some new tank tops. She and her boyfriend filled their cart with a lot of other stuff too—”Ready to stimulate the economy?” she joked to him on their way to the register—and they agreed to split the cost equally. Now when I worked retail, that was an infrequent but not impossible task. When you ask a Target cashier to do that, get ready to have your debit card debited twice for the full amount of the bill, and then told two days later that the voided transactions will take 72 hours to clear.
Adobe Needs Eight Employees To Completely Screw Up CS3 Cross-Grade
By 3.21.08
Jay wanted to update his copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2 to CS3 and simultaneously switch the license over to the Mac platform. The first sales rep he spoke with did everything right and Jay was very happy. Then that sales rep disappeared forever, only to be replaced by a comically inept parade of CSRs who can’t figure out Adobe’s own systems, who make up their job titles, give out fax numbers to call, and who—in one case—claim to be on a phone system that doesn’t connect to the outside world.
