SERVICE WITH A SMILE
Paramount residents may never get to see a recent change to the city’s door-to-door bus service. But the next time they call for a ride, perhaps they’ll hear it.
From now on, dispatchers working phones for the privately run service will be required to smile while they arrange transportation for their customers.
Supervisors for Dave Transportation Services came up with the mandate in response to recent survey results indicating that some customers were concerned with dispatchers’ phone etiquette.
“We’re not asking [dispatchers] to say anything different,†said Cal Molina, the company’s operations manager. “[But] if you physically smile, it’s going to be more pleasant.â€
Last week, Dave Transportation also ran its five dispatchers through a brief workshop on customer service, including two 90-minute instructional videotapes followed by a written test. Together with the new emphasis on smiling, Molina said, the training should add “pep†as dispatchers handle more than 100 calls daily from six service areas across Los Angeles County.
“It allows the passengers to feel that they’re not just calling a bus company,†he said.
Of 64 customers surveyed aboard the buses in March, 61% said phone courtesy was “excellent;†only 12% said it was “poor.â€
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