Wonderful Customer Service During Vacation

Nova Scotia Canada has been my home for the vast majority of my life. Although in my childhood we did live in a number of different Provinces across the country we settled here when I was about seven years old.

Throughout my life I recall hearing about how Maritimers are the friendliest people in the world. A person I met in Boston, after telling them where I was from, told a story about how some people from away were ended up in a small town in the Maritimes and asked directions to their friends. The person who gave them directions promptly gave them their car to get to where they needed to go and simply told them to drop it off when they were done. I’m not sure the story if the story is really true or not, but I wouldn’t doubt it.

Working for a number of years in the Call Centre industry our manners and kindness were cited as one of the reasons so many centres set up shop here as well.

Hard examples escape me at this point in time, but there have been many occasions where I’ve heard about the rude Americans. It would seem to me that for a lot of people in this area that is the general feeling about our neighbours.

Throughout the years I’ve been lucky enough to travel a number of times to the United States. My wife an I were even married in New Orleans. Every single trip I’ve made I’ve had some of the best in person customer service I’ve ever experienced.

During this past week on our vacation it really hit me. There was not one interaction I had that wasn’t extremely pleasant. It didn’t matter if it was on the ferry, at a gas station, grocery store, Dunkin Donuts, or just walking down the street. Even before I left calling into a T-Mobile Call Centre was a great experience. People were friendly and very helpful, every single time. This has generally been my experience throughout my travels in the States. This trip we went through five states and it was all the same. Even a previous trip to New York City I didn’t find anyone I would consider rude. People did seem to be in a hurry and there was less small talk in general, but nothing rude.

To be honest I think there are a lot of people who could take some lessons from every person I dealt with on this last trip. Granted I’ve only been back a few days, but in the few encounters I’ve had in stores / gas stations I’ve been less than impressed. It’s almost seemed like I was putting someone out by coming and purchasing something from their place of work.

Also lets be honest about the Call Centre industry here in Nova Scotia. A lot of the companies setup shop here because of the unemployment rate, so there are lots of employees, and government incentives. I’m sure the fact that we speak English and are genuinely nice play into it as well, but that is not the main reason.

I truly love the area where I live in the world and the people here as well. I know the majority of people are kind and friendly. But if I was going to do a general comparison from my personal experience, I really believe the customer service I received everywhere I went during this trip was at a higher level than what I receive on a daily basis here in Nova Scotia. That makes me sad as I want people, when they come to visit our Province or Country, to have the same great experience I had when traveling. Not just tourists here either, we should always strive to provide great customer service to everyone we deal with.

Personally I know I will work even harder to make sure I leave people feeling the way I did after leaving any establishment I was in. It made me happy and it genuinely felt like they were happy as well. I fail to see any downside in that.