A Comment From One of the Natives (Columbia: home, closing)

[alleycat]

I haven’t been a member here long, but I’ve already seen quite a few questions and replies on how friendly, polite and welcoming Tennesseans are. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I do have a comment or two myself. Just my opinion, nothing else.

I like to think of us here in Tennessee as reasonably friendly, polite and welcoming, whether to visitors or new arrivals, but most of us don’t spend all our time worrying about it. I don’t know anyone who goes home at night and asks, “Did I meet my quota of niceness today?” I do find it a little odd when I see a reply such as, “I was in a convenience store in Columbia in June and the clerk there wasn’t very friendly, she didn’t even say ‘come back now, ya hear’ when we left . . . therefore, they’re not as friendly there as everyone says they are.” Well, not everyone, at every place, at all times, is going to be the nicest person you’ve ever met. Some people here are rude (although I don’t think too many here make a habit of it). And people here had good days and bad days just like anyone else; they might be sick, or not feeling well, or have some kind of personal problem that’s bothering them at the moment, or whatever.

Again, I hope we’re nice to our new arrivals or visitors when they come, but I can’t guarantee that everyone you meet will welcome you as a long-lost cousin. I mean, if you really had a bad experience overall, say so; there’s no problem at all with telling us that. And if you have a good experience overall, tell us that too. We love to hear that you enjoyed your visit.

My thought for the day.

[mbmouse]

Good thought for today and any day! Thanks for sharing it. I couldn't agree more.

[daniellefort]

We ran into some grumpy TN's. On my last trip just last week, we got stuck on a mountain top on a very narrow road with a Toyota Tundra double cab. Simply ASKED the lady in her yard if it was ok if we just turned around in her driveway where as most people wouldn't even ask. She didn't even acknowledge I was talking to her. After about 30 seconds of silence, she said no and turned away. We ended up doing about an 10 point turn around in the road. Then we stopped at a convienience store a trip before and asked if my daughter could use the restroom while my husband was pumping gas, she said no it's not a public restroom just as another customer came walking out, got in his car and left. I took our $20 back and got gas somewhere else. Then another convienience store clerk wouldn't even attempt to speak to me as I tried to make friendly conversation. Sometimes you try to do the right thing and start a conversation and others just don't want any part of you. Maybe they were having a bad day. What's funny is that the 2 people we met who were the friendliest to us were from Louisiana and had just moved to TN. No matter where you live though, you'll run into grumpy people and friendly people. Just take the grumpies with a grain of salt and move on. That's what we did.

[acc77]

Thats true.

[artemis]

A lot of convenience stores are closing their restrooms to the public. Unfortunately, some have been vandalized by punks, and they've been forced to keep them private.

Replacing plumbing and drywall gets expensive real quick.

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by artemis

A lot of convenience stores are closing their restrooms to the public. Unfortunately, some have been vandalized by punks, and they've been forced to keep them private.

Replacing plumbing and drywall gets expensive real quick.

Yes i can certainly understand that people do trash places which is a shame but when you see another customer come out of the restroom just as your about to walk in then your told you can't use it because it's not a public restroom i don't get it.

[happyappy]

I know what you mean! Check out what just happened to me yesterday:

Since we’ve been here I haven’t been able to fax anything to my customers in Japan; I can reach them on a voice line—just can’t fax. A supervisor from the phone company crew came out twice last week inspecting lines and equipment. They’ve had me do various things such as connect the fax machines to voice lines to see if the message would send; no luck.

So last Friday this supervisor sent a test fax from his office to my customer in Japan and it went through. And then yesterday he comes out with a fax machine from his office under his arm. He comes in and hooks it up and sends another test page from our line—and it goes through! He took the 6-page message from me that I’d been trying to send for more than a week and sent the whole thing to my customer on his machine.

After several phone conversations with people back at the phone company and more trials with varying combinations at our place, he said they had no answer. We have two fax machines, neither of which will send to Japan (although they had no trouble before we moved here). I said, “Well, obviously your lines are good, so we’ll contact the fax machine manufacturers about the situation. It’s not your problem any more.”

And you know what he said? He said, “Yes, it is.” Just like that—yes it is. Whatever happened to the-customer-is-always-right attitude? Talk about argumentative! I couldn’t believe it . . .

[Tek_Freek]

That is the attitude I have about my clients and their problems. I have learned that pursuing a "repair" through to the finish usually ends up taking less of my client's time as well as my own. Quite often the "help" they receive from techs is given in a manner that is hard for them to understand whereas I will understand it and know how to act upon it. Not everyone is a geek or understands the jargon.

It pays off in customer satisfaction as well as personal.

Nice to know that this attitude is alive and well in my future state.

[TNNative]

Originally Posted by alleycat

I haven’t been a member here long, but I’ve already seen quite a few questions and replies on how friendly, polite and welcoming Tennesseans are. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I do have a comment or two myself. Just my opinion, nothing else.

I like to think of us here in Tennessee as reasonably friendly, polite and welcoming, whether to visitors or new arrivals, but most of us don’t spend all our time worrying about it. I don’t know anyone who goes home at night and asks, “Did I meet my quota of niceness today?” I do find it a little odd when I see a reply such as, “I was in a convenience store in Columbia in June and the clerk there wasn’t very friendly, she didn’t even say ‘come back now, ya hear’ when we left . . . therefore, they’re not as friendly there as everyone says they are.” Well, not everyone, at every place, at all times, is going to be the nicest person you’ve ever met. Some people here are rude (although I don’t think too many here make a habit of it). And people here had good days and bad days just like anyone else; they might be sick, or not feeling well, or have some kind of personal problem that’s bothering them at the moment, or whatever.

Again, I hope we’re nice to our new arrivals or visitors when they come, but I can’t guarantee that everyone you meet will welcome you as a long-lost cousin. I mean, if you really had a bad experience overall, say so; there’s no problem at all with telling us that. And if you have a good experience overall, tell us that too. We love to hear that you enjoyed your visit.

My thought for the day.

Gotta remember too that EVERYONE you meet in Tennessee may not be a native. My family tells me that I never meet a stranger, but like Alleycat says, Tennesseans have things going in our lives too, and may not have the time to be as we normally are. We've got job struggles, sometimes parental issues, the rush-rush of getting to appointments and getting our kids to ballgames, etc. There are still some people here (like anywhere) that just don't trust strangers, and don't talk to everyone they meet. There are even some people that are just naturally "grumpy". But I sure hope that visitors don't feel that it is in every Tennesseean. Heck, even some Tennesseans are grumpy with their own.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by Tek_Freek

That is the attitude I have about my clients and their problems. I have learned that pursuing a "repair" through to the finish usually ends up taking less of my client's time as well as my own. Quite often the "help" they receive from techs is given in a manner that is hard for them to understand whereas I will understand it and know how to act upon it. Not everyone is a geek or understands the jargon.

It pays off in customer satisfaction as well as personal.

Nice to know that this attitude is alive and well in my future state.

I've done tech support for years. I'm shocked that reps would speak in jargon. If someone is doing that, they should be shown the door.

There are geeks and then there are geeks that do support, the latter know how to explain things in a patient and kind manner that is easy to understand, without making the customer feel stupid. And by the way, customers are not stupid, they just don't have the information.

Once you explain to a customer that you think they are smart you can teach them anything.