Tourists deserve polite service, too

‘Bout time some folks around here had hospitality training, especially if their business depends on guest service. That is why sessions this month are scheduled by the Downeast Acadia Regional Tourism Council, which hopes to convey to food servers, hotel desk clerks, convenience store operators and others on the front line of customer service that tourists are not a bane but a boon and should be made to feel welcome.

Even the software program Microsoft Windows opens by saying “Welcome.” Yet that’s not always the case in restaurants, retail shops or service stations where workers may be so engrossed in chores – or conversation – they resent the interruption of a customer.

Sometimes, it’s not apparent that they even want customers. Signs advertise when the diner is closed, not open. A shop proclaims “Open by chance,” while yet another, a recycling center that closed shortly after it opened, had a sign that merely said: “Open in a while.”

In one cafe, two customers – unfamiliar in town – sat down in a booth at 2 p.m. for pie and coffee, only to wait 10 minutes for service. When one of them finally went to the counter to place the order, she was told, “We close at 2 o’clock.”

Then, there’s the waitress, in the typically reticent Down East style, who answers in monosyllables as if she’s a witness called to the stand.

Do you have crab rolls? “Nope.”

What about fried clams? “Nope.”

Then, I’ll settle for fresh flounder, please. “It’s frozen.”

So the hospitality sessions are being held to encourage a warm greeting – and a smile – by wait staff, instead of a “waddoyawant?” from some tired employee who’s been up since 5 a.m. and can’t wait till the shift is over.

Those in the service industry should present a positive approach, says the Tourism Council, and this applies to anyone who meets and greets the public, from the men and women who collect money at turnpike tollbooths (would it hurt them to say “thank you”?) to the people working in fast food chains.

May I have a sausage biscuit? “We’re serving lunch.” But it’s only 10:35 in the morning. “So, you don’t want lunch?”

It is definitely time for some Yankees to have hospitality training, something Southerners pride themselves on, even when that’s not the case.

Which brings to mind this example of “Southern hospitality.” Down at the Mayflower Cafe, located in the heart of the Southland, a waitress named Birdie was a fixture. One night a large gathering of us placed our orders, one by one, until the last chap requested the fisherman’s platter. “You would,” snipped Birdie as she rolled her eyes in disgust.

Some folks just don’t understand hospitality. Who was it who said to his guest: “Come again when you can’t stay so long”?