All Hail, Retail Hospitality! - By John Hendrie

Everyone should revisit the front line assignments within our business sectors, lest we forget the rigors and responsibilities of our Ambassadors.  That’s right!  The Waitress who serves your  Guest - smiling, welcoming, efficient, helpful.  The Front Desk Clerk, manning the computer terminal, yet making conversation, answering Guest questions, ensuring arrival is quick and painless.  The Doorman or Guest Services representative – handling inquiries, directing concerns, resolving issues, moving luggage, hailing cabs.  The bartender – quick with a story and a cold beer, commiserating with patron fortunes, keeping them supplied with goldfish.  The sales associate at the local store – suggesting styles, sizes and ensembles in ever a so subtle fashion.  You get the picture.

Of course, this is where many of us began our careers in Hospitality – in the trenches, providing that all important First Impression and lasting memory.  And, we could not wait to move on to bigger and better.  What have we forgotten? 

We may have trouble recalling the hours we spent on our feet, shifting from one leg to the other or hustling through the restaurant traffic patterns.  We may have forgotten the muscles required to smile and be sincere.  Perhaps, our eyes are a bit more shifty.  We had a certain litany we used to welcome folks to the business.  After a bit, the patter is pretty boring and rote.  How did we get that excitement and pleasure back into our voice and our body language every day?  We have new generations out there  now, doing what we did years earlier.  The task has not changed – only the players and maybe some of the rules. 

That silly reality television program, “Undercover Boss” has absolutely shown how we have lost touch, especially at the leadership level. Most of the shows are about service related corporations and a good array of Restaurant companies.  These executives are always humbled, plus gaining insight to what really happens in the field.  We, the show watchers, usually go “uh duh”, Mr. CEO.  Can management and staff be that far apart and afield?  Yes, they can, for we have forgotten our roots.

I have seen this first hand at my volunteer job – four hours once a week at the I-95 South Welcome Center in Salisbury, MA.  It is managed by the North of Boston CVB, and I signed up to learn more about the travelers coursing through Massachusetts and beyond.  I made a pledge to myself to personally welcome and make eye contact with every person I could, who entered through two doors on opposite sides of the building (autos and trucks).  I man the center kiosk, right there, smack dab in the middle of the hub of activity. 

The Visitor traffic during my shift has averaged over 300 people.  For four hours I am on stage – engaged, sincere, smiling, eye-balling, coming up with more than a “welcome” to everyone and a “safe travels” as they depart.  I am on my feet, by choice, actively covering all the compass points in my kiosk – the Ambassador to the portal to Massachusetts and Southern New England.  I take my assignment seriously.  I am exhausted, really spent at the end of my shift.  Admittedly, I am no Spring chicken, but I can translate what I am learning and seeing into other Hospitality jobs I have held and the requirements for Guest interaction.  It is all about the Experience we craft and deliver upon.

You should revisit your roots, as well.  You learn, you are humbled and you become far more empathetic to the skills, attitudes and effort required to serve.  It is an eye-opener and should be a requirement once a year for all management level personnel.

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