D-kriptik Blog

This post strays a bit off-topic, so you might want to skip it.

We are a services company. Tech brains are our asset, but it is how we apply those brains to our customer’s needs in order to exceed out customers expectations – our service – that keeps people coming back and makes them our evangelists. In other words, we take pride in what we do, and we do it well.

Taking pride in what you do and, by virtue, doing it well… This seems simple, but, speaking for myself, this is something that I take strong notice of whenever it occurs because I find that it is just not that common. And, when you do notice it, you really appreciate it – it becomes a topic of conversation, perhaps even a recommendation. I know I like talking about talking good experiences.

My generic example of this type of pride comes from a Starbucks I visited for a couple of years, as it was close to where I used to work. There was one barista in that Starbucks that would always say hello, knew exactly what I ordered (and often had it ready before I reached the cashier), and just seemed like the energy of the place. He was clearly proud of his work and did it well, and he made that Starbucks part of my morning routine, even though there was another coffee shop closer by that had better coffee but lesser service. One morning, the line was out the door and crawled along. When I got up to the counter, I asked what had happened. It turned out that this barista had come down with the flu. Since this was an unplanned absence, the manager was only able to get one bartista to fill in instead of two (that’s right, two).

I bring this up on the blog today due to experiences I had on Wednesday (21-09-2005) night.

(For those looking for places to go… I made the rounds with a pleasant date, starting off at the Hudson bar, heading down and way over to Rififi for a spell, and then heading slightly back up and over to Marquee. The Hudson bar is a generic lounge, but it is quite empty early on and so works for a quick cocktail and conversation. Rififi is always relaxed and unpretentious, happens to have the cheapest pints of Guinness in Manhattan ($5 USD), and you can have takeout delivered there. While the Marquee’s bitter door leaves a lot to be desired, it is quite the opposite inside and upstairs – full of happy, friendly people having lots of fun.)

So, we were sitting in the Hudson bar waiting to order drinks in the evening. The place was mostly empty at this time, with a few people scattered about, including the two of us. We observed two waitresses, and the difference in their customer service was so striking that it pulled me onto the very topic of this blog post, which is also a frequent topic of mine in general. (As you can tell, I am an exciting date.)

The one waitress circled the room looking for larger groups to service. Most of the time she was just standing around, ignoring the small groups of people, but, as soon as a larger roup of people (the lower bound appeared to be greater or equal to three) walked in, she was on them like a hawk. The way she interacted with them was almost aloof, and while the drinks seemed to come at a decent pace, she never had a rapport with the customers – it just seemed like she was doing her job. And, as for us, the guy and girl sitting off to the side, we got a few looks from her, only to be passed by for service.

The other waitress there understood how to do her job well, and the pride in her work was obvious. She was always running around the room, making sure that everyone felt important. When she came over to us, she asked if we had been serviced yet – when we said no, she apologized for the delay and immediately asked for our orders. She ran off and came back almost immediately with our drinks. She chatted, she was warm, and she seemed to genuinely care about our well-being. At the end of the night, I can imagine she goes home happy with her day’s work.

At the Marquee, one bartender handled all of our drink orders, and she made the cocktails quite well. She memorized our drinks after the first round, so we only had to nod for the next, which really helped given the crowd. But, what struck me was the end of the night – even though we were no longer spending cash, she kept refilling our waters immediately upon the glasses being empty. She generally seemed to care that we got rehydrated and were comfortable. She was also pleasant and chatty the whole time, and danced whenever she got a free moment. Nicely done. That is exactly what I expect from a great bartender, and it brought us back to the conversation that we began in the Hudson bar.

At D-kriptik, we strive to live up the standards of the barista, bartender, and waitress outlined here – customer focused and proud of high quality work. When I interview people, I always bring up the Starbucks’ story and ask the potential D-kriptik member for their thoughts on it. Some techies seem surprised I would compare them with baristas, but that is just how we look at the world. We may state our beliefs in technology and people quite loudly, but customer service is at our core. And, walking home with a sense of pride at the hard work done during the day keeps us all happily moving forward.

Update: Wow, I got email asking where else to go and a few flames about why I did not expand on Rififi. Unfortunately, going into where to go is not a topic here; however, I will continue to reply to email messages on the topic. As far as Rififi, it was not discussed here beyond a brief blurb as it did not have a story to fit the topic. Rififi was, well, Rififi, which is to say, low key. The bartender was low key, and the patrons were low key. I tend to like low key, so Rififi is always on my recommendations list, which is why I threw it into the post.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 23rd, 2005 at 6:43 pm and is filed under Customer service, D-Kriptik. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.