For Customer Service Week (CSWeek): To Improve Customer Service, Improve Employee Treatment

When The Ritz-Carlton Hotel company proclaims that “We are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen,” they’re saying something revolutionary and rebellious. They’re expressing a reaction against the idea that there is one superior class of people (the customer) and another, subservient class of people (the employees). As Ritz-Carlton’s president and COO, Herve Humler, explains in my recent interview, “The attitude I strive to get across to my employees is this: ‘You are n...