Customer Service

Today I had an interesting lesson with a higher level student who mostly just wanted to talk through class. It was a review lesson, so the topic he ended up choosing was how to handle customer complaints--and to tie in English we chose complaints from Americans. Instead of doing grammar, we mostly focused on content and expressions.

And boy, this was a lot more complicated than a lesson on grammar! The first time he practiced taking my complaint (and he was trying to do American body language, mind you) it was hard to believe that his person looking down and saying "I'm sorry," wasn't just blowing me off. And when we switched roles, the first thing he noticed was how much expression I put into my face. My student noted, "American faces use more exaggerated expressions, and their mouths move around a lot more when they talk."

We discussed the important aspects of dealing with a complaint, such as a sincere apology versus offering an action, and whether customers want to let of steam or fix their problem. Now I'll have a different perspective when I go to a store and there's a problem. Even if the people look like they just want me to leave, they might really be trying their best to help me.