Some of Lilla’s pottery projects.
This is an extract from a wonderful blog that I enjoyed a great deal, by Whitney Smith, a potter from Oakland, California.
Love your customer, even when you don’t
Whitney writes: “I worked a few jobs in high school that required constant interaction with the public, and I learned — as did my supervisors — that customer service was not my forte. People would get on my nerves with their foolish expectation that I should serve them quickly and politely. I would shake with indignation if a customer gave me attitude. Of course I was young and untrained, and I had little idea what the word “customer service” meant, only that it sounded like somebody else’s job.
I thought being an artist and escaping into my studio every day was a great way to avoid having too many encounters with the general public. I have learned over the past 14 years that the best way to guarantee that you will be interacting with the public all the time is to be an artist who actually sells their work directly to people who want it.
The great thing about being totally wrong is that I’ve been given the opportunity to learn to be a person who can gracefully manage all kinds of encounters with clients and give great customer service. It’s been a long learning curve, because inside I still have a piece of that teenager that gets very upset when people complain, or want something from me that I’m not prepared to give. I’ve alienated customers with snappy responses, defensiveness, and irritable behavior. I’ve learned that just makes me feel just as bad as the customer does, while not solving the problem I’ve been presented with.”
