Defining The Obvious

27/07/2008 In Customer Service by John R. Hopkins { }

This morning I stopped in for a bite to eat at the local Hardee’s. I know, not really good for you, but I wanted a biscuit. I walked in ready to do the usual fast-food routine: Wait in a short line, give my order, give them a few bucks, wait a few minutes and then take my food and go.

The first thing I notice is that there is no one in line. People in the drive-thru but no one inside in the queue. The next thing I notice are two large touch screen kiosks where cash registers and employees are usually waiting for my order.

My first reaction to this is annoyance. I had been thinking a lot lately about how were are experiencing human/human interaction less and less in the customer service world. Then and I noticed that you get a free apple turnover for using the kiosk instead of an manned register. I thought, hmmm, this might just work!
So, there it is. The value of human interaction = one Hardee’s apple turnover.