On Duty While You Are Off Duty

Shep Hyken – customer service motivational speaker, author, trainer, and expert – shares a few experiences in one of his Shepard Letters, his monthly newsletter, about remembering that even when you are not on the clock, you are still representing your company.

I recently took my family to dinner at a nice restaurant. We had a 6:00 p.m. reservation. We were a few minutes early and were obviously one of the first guests to arrive. The hostess told us to take a seat and she would let us know when our table was ready. As the restaurant was virtually empty, I asked her how long she thought it would be. Her response was this:

“Sir, it is 5:52. Your reservation wasn’t until 6:00. I’ll let you know when the table is ready.”

I was a bit put off by her very direct and less than friendly response. It looked like all of the tables were ready so I asked her why. Then the real reason came out why she didn’t want to seat us. She told me that she was off duty and I would have to wait for the hostess that was supposed to be on duty to arrive. Ah, I see! She could assume the duty of aggravating a customer, but could not, make that would not, assume the duty of taking care of a customer.

Lesson: This story illustrates a very simple, yet important point. At any time that someone can be associated with your company, they are.

That means that even when someone is off duty, as our hostess in the above example described herself to be, they are still on. Think about the truck with the corporate logo on its side that drives recklessly down the highway. The driver of that truck may be off duty, but the truck is still representing the company. Does the driver realize it?

A long time ago I wrote about an incident where I became upset with a ticket agent at the airport. I didn’t realize that audience members from my speech that morning were watching me. I was very embarrassed. At that moment I realized that I was not only representing myself, but my client as well.

At any given time, even when we don’t suspect it, we might be creating an impression about our company, or even ourselves. And whenever it comes to dealing with the customer, we must always be on – even when we are supposed to be off.


Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE is a professional speaker and Wall Street Journal best-selling author who works with companies who want to develop loyal relationships with their customers and employees. For more information on Shep's speaking programs, books, tapes and learning programs please contact (314) 692-2200. Email: shep@hyken.com – Web: www.hyken.com – Click here for information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs (http://www.TheCustomerFocus.com).

Copyright © 2010, Shep Hyken -- http://www.hyken.com-- (314)692-2200