THE RIGHT WORDS MATTER MORE

Recently, while having dinner with my wife at a relatively upscale restaurant, I asked for some bread for the table. The waiter, without hesitation, responded, “No worries,” and left to retrieve a fresh loaf of bread—or so I thought.

After waiting about five minutes, the waiter returned without the bread and asked if we were ready to order. I mentioned the missing bread. The waiter, without hesitation, responded, “No problem,” and left to retrieve a fresh loaf of bread—or so I thought again.

Returning without the bread, the waiter informed me that they had run out of fresh bread and that an assortment of crackers and pretzel sticks would be okay instead of the bread.  

It seems like the expressions “No worries” and the now familiar “No problem” appear to replace responses like “Yes,” “Certainly,” “Absolutely,” or my favorite, “My pleasure” as means of assurance to the customer that their request will be fulfilled.  But in our attempts to put the customer at ease with “No problem” or “No worries,” is now the point the customer does begin to worry because, more than likely, there will be a problem.

In our ability to communicate both an understanding of a request and assuring that the request will be fulfilled, it is essential to communicate clearly and convincingly with an affirmative response.  I just imagined if the response to “Will you marry me?” was “No worries.”  Or the reaction to “I swear that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God?” was “No problem.”  The responses would leave the requestor wondering if he was choosing the right person to be married to or leave the judge shaking her head in disbelief.   

Regarding customer service, a double negative does not make a positive. The last words a customer wants to hear are “no,” “problem,” or “worries” when it comes to a meal, vacation, boarding a plane, or reviewing their annual physical results.

Simply put … words matter.  And the right words matter more.

Until Next Friday,

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash