Who’s With Me!?

Alright…Here it goes. This is the post where I officially sound old!

August 18th, 2025

New Technology has been amazing in my lifetime. The fact that I don’t have to handwrite or drive to the store a lot, get to hang with my dog while I work, AND get to watch the Amazon delivery guy back into my garage door is all … well, as I said, amazing! However, it also means that my expectations have increased at the same time. I want computers that are faster, phones that have the latest apps, and the ability to shop smarter. That being said, in one big case, my expectations have decreased amongst all of this new tech….

Service is not just virtual, but most companies want it to be. How do you take an industry like hospitality and make it, well…. less hospitable on purpose?  I was thinking about all of the hotel stays that I have annually and it’s a significant trend that I’ve noticed. I have come to expect less and less. It seems like uniforms and name badges are less consistent, as well as eye contact when you go to the front desk to check in.  In many instances, it seems as if the front desk agent is annoyed that I am interrupting their text exchange rather than being interested in the fact that I am standing in front of them.  

I went to order room service last week from a pretty nice and well branded hotel but, there was only a 3^rd party scan option to see the room service menu. I wanted tea and a piece of fresh fruit, which was not on the menu.  So, I called down to the front desk and asked for room service. I was told that room service did not have a phone extension and that I had to order from the app so I said, “Well,the things that I want are not on the app menu, but I’m hoping I can get them.” The front desk agent told me, “Well you will have to come down to the restaurant to ask.”  Technology. Service….

Once, I lost my phone in an Uber. It took Uber 9 days to get it back to me because after the driver dropped me off, I no longer had access to call him. Uber customer service? Not so fast to help. I was in the heart of Manhattan, and I was headed to get my train to Boston in an hour. Can I please just get my phone? Again, no real customer service. I had to buy a new phone, then held my perfectly fine 4-month-old phone in my hand later the following week…

I brought my car in for service in February. I went to the easy-to-use appointment page and put in what I thought I needed done— an inspection and a tire rotation. I tried to put in for my complimentary oil change that I get every 5,000 miles, but there wasn’t a check box for that, only the $79 option. When I went to pick up my car I asked about the oil change and the woman said, “you didn’t put it in your appointment document.” I said, “I didn’t see an option for that and it’s been over 7,000 miles since my last change, shouldn’t that trigger an automatic oil change on your end?” She told me that I could come back the following week for my free oil change. I said, “Gee, I live over a half an hour from here. Can you get it done now?”  Apparently it was my fault and so she replied with a tone, “Because you didn’t put it in your appointment document, we didn’t budget the time for it.” Okay, maybe that was my fault, but is there anywhere in this story that exhibits good customer service? Or is this simply processing at my expense? Service? It can sometimes seem like a punchline these days. and don’t get me started on the incessant requests for 20% tips for takeout service…

So, this old guy hopes that there is a serious uprising! I’ve decided to let each company know how their automation lets me down. Maybe it will make a difference if enough people do it. My dream? For service organizations to produce actual service and not spend time producing unhelpful virtual service…Who’s with me?!?!?!