I popped into the supermarket yesterday evening and after purchasing noticed on the receipt that i had been over charged. So i decided i’d have a chat with the customer service team. I explained my case that there was a but one get one free on a new product and that’s what made me purchase them (i’m a sucker for a bargain). Off the girl went to investigate and a few mins later she returned, said i was right and gave me a cash refund for both the products. So when i was wandering back to the car i was wondering why did i feel so unsatisfied by the experience. All things considered i knew it wasn’t a valuable use of my time to save 5 Euro, but i knew that would be the case before i went to the Cusotmer Service desk. Technically the problem was resolved beyond my expectations – got expected to get the refund for the “get one free” item but instead i got them both free. So why was i so unsatisfied i asked myself??

Then it occured to me that she hadn’t actually apologised or said that she would rectify the error in their computers. There was no human element to the enteraction at all! I hadn’t really gone to the customer service desk to get back 5 euro, rather i had gone there to tell them that i felt swindled out of my money and that since usually i wouldnt look at a reciept, but this one time when i had i found errors i wasn’t going to let them away with it.

So what is the real job of a customer service rep?? Is it to rectify a customers problem or to heal a customers feelings toward their company?

I was invited to the restaurant launch of Joe Burger, A gourmet burger venue with a very unique dining experience. It seems lately that burgers are back in fashion after being primarily associated with fast food venues and i’ve noticed a surge in numbers of the gourmet burger restaurants. I think it’s a good thing.

On walking in the doors of the prelaunch opening party you get a huge slap of attitude from the venue. Its a restaurant with personality and designed to be an experience, something i find sadly lacking with many restaurants now days. For example: the menu’s are encased old hard back 1970’s comic books with hard backs and the cutlery is brought out in a shiny old tin can. The choice of food is most interesting – i had an avacado and salsa burger, which tasted incredible. The deserts were impressive too, i couldn’t decide so ended up having two 🙂

I think it’s fair to say that the entrepreneurial spirit of a little creativity conquers the standard american franchises… which only offer the same old same. Best of luck with the business Joe, thanks for the lovely evening and i hope it all works out for you. Joe Burger opens its doors to the public this weekend in Ranelagh, Dublin 6.

For a while now i’ve been toying with the Idea of starting up Blogging following the recommendations of several associates such as Pat Phelenwho has had a lot of success with his. More and more i find myself checking blogs for information about whats going on in several industries im involved in.

Basically i’ve divided the Blog into two area’s of my life which i like to keep seperated, business and DJing. DJing is one of my main hobbies and over the years has become a major part of my life, It put me through college and through it i’ve made a wealth of friends. Also the money aspects to it are fairly handy. I have a management company look after the majority of my bookings Star DJs so thats how i free up my time to focus on the stuff i do in this section. For more on the DJing stuff flick over to the DJing section.

I made the decision when i was about 13 that i didn’t like being bossed around by superiors and correlated “bossing” to wanting to be my own boss. I was a definate challenge to teachers in school, it’s ironic that i ended up being a teacher for a year then in University College Dublin (UCD) teaching “Applied Business Competencies” whilst doing my finals – I love this and definately found a life passion to teach. However i decieded if i truely wanted people to listen i better get off my ass and make some major accomplishments to give what i had to say more weight. So from then on it’s been all about entrepreneurship. Often in my life there’s a blur to where the line of work and play is, and i’ve done a lot of projects simply to gain skills rather than make money. Try explaining that to a 9-5′ers.