I was shocked by my first visit to Whole Foods. I was at first overwhelmed by both the abundance and the aesthetics of the store – it is a natural food lover’s paradise.

In contrast to the festive, welcoming ambiance of the store was my cashier:

Have you ever noticed how some businesses have a uniquely friendly - and others - a uniquely unfriendly vibe? What vibe do your staff create?

Is it “We love working here and we enjoy serving our customers” or is “We hate it here and you know… we’re not thrilled about having to deal with you darn customers, either.”

One of the starkest contrasts I’ve experienced is across the parking lot on Marginal Way in Portland... i.e. between Wild Oats and "the other natural food store".

I've brought this observation to a number of friends who all say they notice the same thing. The question: “Why doesn’t the staff at that store ‘get it’ about customer service. Why the attitude?” What does Wild Oats do so dramatically different than this store?

I just came across a great article on the importance of creating a positive atmosphere in the workplace. They included a paragraph on the impact of a negative employee -- or in their study - negative employees -- can have:

"Recently, we investigated the impact that a single employee can have on customers by studying 4,583 call center representatives from a major telecommunications company. We discovered three service representatives who scared off every single customer they spoke with in a given day -- and those customers did not return. . . . The company would have been better off paying those three representatives to stay home."

For the full article, go to: http://nehra.com/articlesresources/article.cfm?id=890