OK here goes - the first FR rant ! Last week I was staying for business in a London hotel...a "palatial" hotel on the Strand... I arrived just before 6pm, and queued for 15 minutes to check in. A hotel employee came up to us poor suckers at the end of the lengthy queue, and I thought, good someone is here to apologise or perhaps to suggest some of us go to another receptionist or have a free drink in the bar while we wait... But no, the lovely Claudia had just come to abruptly order us to queue in a slightly different place, which of course we all obediently did. No "I'm very sorry for your wait, but would you mind please moving over here so that you don't block the entrance to the restaurant ? Thank you very much". Had she said something like that I might still have been a bit grumpy, but it wouldn't have stuck in my mind such that I blogged it a week later ! My grandma, all our grandparents I expect, knew that basic good manners cost nothing, but make all the difference to how others experience us. So this week's "top tip" is - it takes no more breath or calories or time or effort to say something polite than it does to say something rude.

I decided to start this blog because I have worked for over 25 years in customer services and complaints roles, and despite what people will have you believe, IT ISN'T DIFFICULT ! Perhaps I'm just getting old and grumpy, but I found I was getting more and more annoyed in my everyday life by companies and their staff who just didn't bother to get it right. I thought I'd start this blog and let off some steam about poor customer service that I have come across, but also hopefully some good examples too. And I'll be giving my "tops tips" about how to treat customers well and how to deal with complaints effectively.