customer service

I was going to write a customer service post mostly about the art of effective cashiering on my other blog, but I have a more pressing situation on a related topic here. When I moved into this apartment 2 and a half years ago I took a glance at the lights dangling from the 12 foot ceilings and asked how to I get my lightbulbs changed? Thinking am I going to have to buy a ladder? Fortunately, I was told that the building management would take care of it and the couple of times that I needed bulbs changed, they took care of it. Flashforward to today and 5 or six bulbs are out in the kitchen plus a couple of others. So I called the office and asked to get the bulbs changed. "Okay," the girl answered and started to hang up. "Wait," I stopped her. "Don't you want to know which ones need to be changed?" She giggled nervously and supposedly wrote down the information. She said she'd put in a work order. 2 days later, I come home from work and find this hanging from my doorknob:



I am immediately livid. If I indeed needed to provide my own bulbs, why didn't the girl on the phone say anything? I can't reach the lights, so I had no way of finding out on my own what kind of bulbs they are. So I called the next day and when I explained the situation (she seemed to not recall me calling 2 days before) and she says "Okay, hold on" and suddenly I'm taking to someone's voice mail and I haven't been called back. I called later in the day but I guess the office was closed. They aren't open on Saturdays. I guess that would be too convenient.

It's just so damn impressive how every single simple thing I ever ask for from these people is a total ordeal. Getting the screeching smoke detector battery changed took 4 phone calls, one of which she claimed that they didn't have permission to enter the apartment. Hint: permission is written into the lease.

So here's the thing: if you're going to be in a customer service position, then you have to proactively provide customer service. If you can not do that, you are just causing more problems and pain for people. Here is how this could have been executed properly: If residents are now required to provide their own light bulbs, how about issuing a notice that says residents are required to provide their own light bulbs and here is the kind you should get and here is where you can find them. I don't think it takes very much critical thinking skill to do this, but maybe I'm wrong.


Maybe I just need to get a ladder.

Is there a "how many mayo group employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb" joke in this?