Assignment Instructions/ Description
Directions: Review the case study “Consider this Case: ‘Service’ at the Donut Shop” at the end of Chapter 12 in your textbook.
Discuss how the donut shop under-delivered in regards to customer conveniences.What could the owner of the donut shop do, specifically, to improve the problems of slow service?What methods do you suggest the owner of the donut shop use to make the buying process easier for customers?
Consider this Case “Service” at the Donut Shop Early one morning Harry found himself hungry, alone, and lost in the land of no customer service as he stum- bled into a donut shop. It was a rainy, gray morning and he was tired. Cars were parked at odd angles because the lines on the lot had long ago faded. The parking lot was dirty and the trashcans overflowed. Inside were disorganized lines of people, most wearing parkas, waiting to buy donuts. There appeared to be no systematic way of serving customers. The bold ones stepped up and demanded service while the more timid (or courteous) hoped for attention from the clerk. Harry waited for about seven minutes as the two clerks repeatedly took orders, disappeared into the back room, reappeared, and took peoples’ money. All along Harry observed the uncleared, coffee-stained counter where he soon would sit to eat his donut. It hadn’t been cleared recently, and it apparently wasn’t going to be cleared now. Customers groaned, as the advertised two-for-one sale didn’t apply when they ordered donuts of different prices, and the clerks explained with bored, unsmiling expressions. Harry noticed a middle-aged woman (could she be the manager?) sitting on a crate just outside the back door smoking a cigarette and reading a tabloid news- paper. She seemed oblivious to the dismal scene in the shop. Harry finally reached the head of the line and came face to face with a 17-year-old girl who had been condemned to serve him. Something in her teenage face told him that all was not well in the service economy. Harry asked her how she liked her job. She looked him straight in the eye and said, “It sucks!” probes 1. Assume you are the owner of this donut shop. What would you do? What specific behaviors would you seek to change? 2. Focus on the problems of slow service. What could be done, specifically, to improve this? 3. To what extent might the slow service be a source of employee irritation and dissatisfaction? Explain.
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