Customer Service Crisis

Both American workers and their customers are mad. The former about stagnant pay, stressful working conditions, and obnoxious customers. The latter about inept service, indifferent employees, and hard-to-negotiate customer-service departments, says James Surowiecki. Service is not on the decline just because consumers demand lower prices, and that brings cheap wages. “The real problem may be that companies have a roving eye: they’re always more interested in the customers they don’t have. So they pour money into sales and marketing to lure new customers while giving their existing ones short shrift, in an effort to minimize costs and maximize revenue.”