The work I am going to be focusing on for this cognitive biography is work within my own job. I work as a cashier in one store of a family-owned video store, Family Video. Businesses in the movie rental industry are becoming few and far between due to options such as Redbox, Netflix and on-demand movie streaming. When asked how Family Video continues to stay open and do well, employees are supposed to respond with the Family Video mission statement, “Family Video’s mission is to be our customers’ first entertainment choice. We do this by providing a unique mix of great customer service and low prices. Customer service is our top priority!” Family Video management achieves such a mission by providing a detailed employee manual along with frequent
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This job is not one that pays all of my bills; however I care about my job and my customers. I want to provide great service to them so they do want to come back to my store. Even if it was not a priority of the Family Video mission statement to provide excellent customer service, I would try my best to always keep my customers satisfied. Rose also refers to the use of cognition when he mentions how food-service workers, “…consider the emotional consequences of action—which calls for an ongoing assessment of character and feeling” (Rose 2004:16). Each time I deal with a customer at the counter, I tend to judge their mood and personality before I ever open my mouth to speak to them. I have a certain script that I must follow in my interaction with customers. When they walk through the door, it is mandatory that I acknowledge them with a smile or a hello. I normally watch for their reaction and remember it when they come to the counter. Did they acknowledge me back? Say hi? Smile? Were they on their phone? Or did the ignore me? I use this information when they come up to the counter and I continue to follow my script and ask them if they found everything okay. From there, the script is not so strict. I am only required to hit the main points of collecting late fees if they have any or offering any specials or add-on items of the day. Sometimes collecting late fees can be a sensitive subject. I have to be careful how I address the late fees by not accusing them of having late fees or making them feel like they must pay a huge sum of money that they cannot afford. That is why I use cognition and discretion in the way I ask about what they would like to pay on late fees. Even if I correctly judge someone and say all the right things, a customer inevitably will get angry with me. Then I must follow the employee handbook script while again using discretion to diffuse the situation
This job is not one that pays all of my bills; however I care about my job and my customers. I want to provide great service to them so they do want to come back to my store. Even if it was not a priority of the Family Video mission statement to provide excellent customer service, I would try my best to always keep my customers satisfied. Rose also refers to the use of cognition when he mentions how food-service workers, “…consider the emotional consequences of action—which calls for an ongoing assessment of character and feeling” (Rose 2004:16). Each time I deal with a customer at the counter, I tend to judge their mood and personality before I ever open my mouth to speak to them. I have a certain script that I must follow in my interaction with customers. When they walk through the door, it is mandatory that I acknowledge them with a smile or a hello. I normally watch for their reaction and remember it when they come to the counter. Did they acknowledge me back? Say hi? Smile? Were they on their phone? Or did the ignore me? I use this information when they come up to the counter and I continue to follow my script and ask them if they found everything okay. From there, the script is not so strict. I am only required to hit the main points of collecting late fees if they have any or offering any specials or add-on items of the day. Sometimes collecting late fees can be a sensitive subject. I have to be careful how I address the late fees by not accusing them of having late fees or making them feel like they must pay a huge sum of money that they cannot afford. That is why I use cognition and discretion in the way I ask about what they would like to pay on late fees. Even if I correctly judge someone and say all the right things, a customer inevitably will get angry with me. Then I must follow the employee handbook script while again using discretion to diffuse the situation