6 ms·

Pretending That You Care

11 points by breily 18y ago

vitaminj 18y ago
Parking inspectors aren't even supposed to deal with customers. Why should they be trained to "pretend to care"? Sounds like a waste of money to me.
- tomjen 18y ago
  Because they can skip a _ton_ of angry complainers by treating people a little decently.
  - dualogy 18y ago
    Yeah, but what's in that for them?
    - dhs 18y ago
      I think the point Godin's trying to make is that people who habitually "play nice" with others, even if starting out as pretenders, supposedly end up living a happier life. This might be a contested claim, and I'm not sure whether there's any research on this exact topic (the results that I've seen published by Martin Seligman point in this direction, at least), but personally, I've seen it working: "radiating niceness " seems to create a feedback loop of sorts. The theory would be that a parking inspector of above-average niceness would lead a life of above-average niceness, which would be the reward (for some). However, the scene Godin describes plays in New York. And I'm not sure that the average New Yorker can be convinced that "playing nice" is compatible with being a true New Yorker...
    - lg 18y ago
      maybe nothing, but he's not talking to the grunts, he's talking to the management (or city) that hires and trains them. an unfriendly reputation can really damage you. maybe new york is too big to care, but i know people who routinely avoid doing business in philly because of the city employees' callousness, which in john street's time went all the way to the mayor's office.
- angstrom 18y ago
  Not to mention it's pretty dangerous to give a pissed off person a weapon like a lollipop while being facetious...
petercooper 18y ago
The current situation has occurred because it makes economic sense. Parking attendants and sports store attendants don't require many skills (since they have computers, automated cash registers or other staff to call upon), so they're cheap. Workers in grunt-level jobs will, in the majority of cases (though not all!), do as much work as is necessary to keep their job. It makes economic sense. Some people ARE naturally friendly or gregarious even at minimum wage and we've all bumped into a few friendly McDonald's servers here and there, but people like these are rare in areas where their pay is low and their costs are high. It makes sense, then, that people earning a pittance in New York City - one of the most expensive places on earth - are going to be, on average, surly and not very Mary Poppins-esque in their behavior. If the city of New York or the sports store wants customers to get a better service from their employees (which they generally don't), they need to pay more money and give them incentives. As it is, companies tend to give the employees incentive to be MORE unfriendly, whether by incentives to issue more tickets or with store policies that prevent staff helping customers to their full extent.
- dhs 18y ago
  There doesn't seem to be much evidence supporting the claim that people who earn more money are therefore more friendly. Particulary not in NY, where being nice in public can mean not being taken seriously.
  - petercooper 18y ago
    I guess what you say might be generally true for public facing staff, although I still think friendliness (or fake friendless) can appear when incentivized or required. Examples would be the hotel industry, sales (think prestige car dealerships), and any low-demand hospitality industry generally. This effect is particularly true amongst the self employed who generally want to keep your business. My dentist, for example, is friendly, otherwise he knows I'll go elsewhere. My doctor, however, is not, but he's state-employed so doesn't care whether I stay or not.
    - dhs 18y ago
DenisM 18y ago
In the spirit of this site may I suggest that the problem is that business owners see no cost-effective ways of aggregating customer feedback. Clearly some of them don't even care, but even those who do have no way to do it - barrier is too high. This an opportunity for an enterprising hacker out there. Difficulty: involves a lot of working with people. :)

11 points by breily 18y ago

Parking inspectors aren't even supposed to deal with customers. Why should they be trained to "pretend to care"? Sounds like a waste of money to me.

tomjen 18y ago
Because they can skip a _ton_ of angry complainers by treating people a little decently.
- dualogy 18y ago
  Yeah, but what's in that for them?
  - dhs 18y ago
    I think the point Godin's trying to make is that people who habitually "play nice" with others, even if starting out as pretenders, supposedly end up living a happier life. This might be a contested claim, and I'm not sure whether there's any research on this exact topic (the results that I've seen published by Martin Seligman point in this direction, at least), but personally, I've seen it working: "radiating niceness " seems to create a feedback loop of sorts. The theory would be that a parking inspector of above-average niceness would lead a life of above-average niceness, which would be the reward (for some). However, the scene Godin describes plays in New York. And I'm not sure that the average New Yorker can be convinced that "playing nice" is compatible with being a true New Yorker...
  - lg 18y ago
    maybe nothing, but he's not talking to the grunts, he's talking to the management (or city) that hires and trains them. an unfriendly reputation can really damage you. maybe new york is too big to care, but i know people who routinely avoid doing business in philly because of the city employees' callousness, which in john street's time went all the way to the mayor's office.
angstrom 18y ago
Not to mention it's pretty dangerous to give a pissed off person a weapon like a lollipop while being facetious...

petercooper 18y ago

The current situation has occurred because it makes economic sense. Parking attendants and sports store attendants don't require many skills (since they have computers, automated cash registers or other staff to call upon), so they're cheap. Workers in grunt-level jobs will, in the majority of cases (though not all!), do as much work as is necessary to keep their job. It makes economic sense. Some people ARE naturally friendly or gregarious even at minimum wage and we've all bumped into a few friendly McDonald's servers here and there, but people like these are rare in areas where their pay is low and their costs are high. It makes sense, then, that people earning a pittance in New York City - one of the most expensive places on earth - are going to be, on average, surly and not very Mary Poppins-esque in their behavior. If the city of New York or the sports store wants customers to get a better service from their employees (which they generally don't), they need to pay more money and give them incentives. As it is, companies tend to give the employees incentive to be MORE unfriendly, whether by incentives to issue more tickets or with store policies that prevent staff helping customers to their full extent.

dhs 18y ago
There doesn't seem to be much evidence supporting the claim that people who earn more money are therefore more friendly. Particulary not in NY, where being nice in public can mean not being taken seriously.
- petercooper 18y ago
  I guess what you say might be generally true for public facing staff, although I still think friendliness (or fake friendless) can appear when incentivized or required. Examples would be the hotel industry, sales (think prestige car dealerships), and any low-demand hospitality industry generally. This effect is particularly true amongst the self employed who generally want to keep your business. My dentist, for example, is friendly, otherwise he knows I'll go elsewhere. My doctor, however, is not, but he's state-employed so doesn't care whether I stay or not.
  - dhs 18y ago

DenisM 18y ago

In the spirit of this site may I suggest that the problem is that business owners see no cost-effective ways of aggregating customer feedback. Clearly some of them don't even care, but even those who do have no way to do it - barrier is too high. This an opportunity for an enterprising hacker out there. Difficulty: involves a lot of working with people. :)