It was early morning and the cafes were just getting going as my friends and I pulled up in town for a cup of coffee. We liked the look of a cafe where a young woman was putting the tables and pot plants out, so we thought we would have coffee there. That is, until we stood uncertainly for 5 or 10 minutes with her purposefully ignoring us.

In fact, doing a masterful job of ignoring us. All it would have taken was a smile and a “sit down and I’ll be with you in a moment” and we would have spent our $60 or so dollars there. As it was, we realised she, and therefore the cafe owners, didn’t want us, and we walked across the road to another cafe where we were greeted with a welcome and a smile. We returned their courtesy by spending our money there.

I’m not blaming the young woman who didn’t show us the courtesy of a smile or kind words, as I reckon it was the boss’s fault. The boss needs to remember that the number one thing that people want when doing business is to be made welcome.

If your team don’t have the manners to do that, then they need to be trained. That’s just good manners.

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