The New Customer Service - Do It Your Self

I think it first began with the advent of self service gas in the 1970s.  The idea then was gas would be cheaper if you pumped the gas yourself.  There was a lower price for self service versus full service where someone pumped the gas for you.

Then the self service movement went into grocery stores with the self checkout lane.  You scanned your groceries, bagged your groceries, paid the bill, then pushed your cart out to the car where you unloaded your bags and then pushed the cart into the cart corral.   Or you left the cart in front of your car not caring to walk the 15 feet or so to the cart corral.

Now in some restaurants they have on the table a device through which you order your meal and pay your bill.  They've cut human contact with a waiter or waitress to the bare minimum.  That being if you encounter a problem. So your table service is as good as you give yourself.

So I ask what's next?  It's got to be the hotel industry.  In the near future you will have hotels where you make up your own bed or change the sheets, vacuum your own room, clean your own bathroom and take your dirty towels down to the laundry to exchange them for new clean towels.  Then you can tip yourself based on how well you think you did.

What this offers is the opportunity for all of us to gain additional skills that we used to pay for others to do for us.  It expands our job resume and skill bank. So, the next time you are given poor customer service, just smile, say thanks, and wave bye to the worker because in a matter of time they won't have a customer service job anyway to perform poorly at.  You will have it!  An additional skill to your growing arsenal of do it your self skills.