When First Impression Never Matters

World Cup fever: Nigeria's super eagles lost its first match at the on-going World Cup, but soccer fans admitted that the players gave a good account of themselves. I hope they do better in their remaining matches. We can still qualify from that group. No matter how badly we play, I will not support any team against the Eagles. GreenWhiteGreen for life!

Now, let's go customer-centric again:
A few months ago, I had an encounter with a customer. The customer sounded so local as he ranted in pidgin English over a genuine issue. He was not rude in anyway, but his pidgin gave me the impression that he was uneducated. However, since he was able to express himself, I went ahead to resolve the issue. His call records were not available, but I pleaded with him to call back later, and apologized for the inconveniences caused. To my shock, the customer expressed his appreciation in Queen's English! That was when he told me that the incident happened when he was away in the United States; and as if he could feel my shock at the other end, he said he decided to speak pidgin English because he wanted quality service based who he was and not what he sounded like! We eventually became friends, and I have become his account officer. If I had attended to the customer based on how he sounded at first, I'm sure I would have had myself to blame.
Customer service goes beyond the 'first impression matters' phrase. It's actually the art of 'scratching the surface' and 'looking beyond the physical'. Many customer service professionals write off customers because of their physical appearance, or impression formed based on their mannerisms and intonation, forgetting that our customers are neither applicants for jobs nor contractors bidding for contract. They are the money makers for business organizations, and what the organizations concern themselves with is the size of the customers' account.
Customer service is an exciting profession, because apart from the fact that it gives us the opportunity to enhance the organization's income, it also teaches us an invaluable virtue- humility.
So, as we begin a new week, let's always remember that that 'rough' customer may just be our link to that much-desired promotion and job satisfaction.
This is the abridged version of my thought.