Fit for Life: A Mediocre World

Fit for Life: A Mediocre World

I was stunned last week when I was about to pay for my food at Baja’s Mexican Cantina.

When the guy at the register rang up my order, he sincerely asked me how my day was.

 

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I said, “It’s going great, thank you.” Then I asked how his was.

 

He said the same, asked a few follow-up questions, we chatted for a couple of minutes, I grabbed my order and left.

 

Then I sat in my truck not only surprised with his friendly demeanor, but in a much better mood overall.  

 

Prior to me getting my food, I got stuck in a ton of traffic on Route 1, and was hungry, and frustrated.

In other words hangry.

 

So, I sat in my truck and devoured my burrito, all the while thinking about our interaction at the register.

 

How did a simple inquiry about how my day was going, and some superficial conversation put me in a better mood?

 

Then I started thinking even deeper, and asking myself these questions.

• Did he care, or was it just a tactic to get a better tip?

• Do they train their staff to give outstanding customer service or does that come naturally?

• Why is it so surprising when we get great service and encounter people that look like they genuinely care and like their jobs?

 

Here’s a list of takeaways I gathered, just by going into a restaurant and getting a burrito on a Saturday afternoon.

 

•We live in a mediocre, entitled society where most, NOT ALL, people choose to do the bare minimum just to get by. Even if he was asking about my day just to get a better tip, he earned it.

 

Good customer service is all about leaving someone better than you found them.

 

How many times have you felt like you are inconveniencing someone taking your order. Or better yet, interrupting someone that has their face glued to a cell phone. These people have no problem spinning the iPad around and expecting a tip, regardless of whether they deserve it or not.

 

When you walk into any establishment and spend your hard-earned money, you deserve a hello, how can I help you attitude. It seems like such a past-tense mantra that the customer is always right, or deserves world-class service.

 

At Providence Fit Body Boot Camp we want to be the best 30 minutes of your day.

 

We know life is full of adversity, so we want you to be free of outside distractions and feel like a million bucks when you leave. I learned this from working for Domino’s Pizza in high school.

 

My boss always told us that when the phone rings, or a customer walks in, you drop what you are doing and serve the customer fast, friendly, and efficiently.

 

STOP folding boxes and washing dishes; those tasks can wait, but the customer shouldn’t.

 

•Leadership is the problem, and leadership is the solution.

 

When I get bad service, I don’t usually blame the employee. If they were trained properly, they should be good at their jobs. If they were trained properly and still do shitty work, they should be let go. This is a leadership problem because an organization is only as good as its leader.

 

I have learned, and still continue to learn how to best train your staff and lead a world-class organization. I make it a point to tell my team that I don’t pay their salaries, but the members do. I just exchange the money from the member to them, and our #1 priority isn’t about the exercises, but how we make people feel.

 

•It doesn’t take much time, effort, or energy to elevate someone’s mood.

 

Just say hello to a stranger, and watch their face light up. Most people are shocked when someone is nice to them, and they usually fire back pleasantries. Yes, sometimes you get a random miserable person that can’t be bothered, but that’s more of a rarity.

 

How does this apply to fitness?

How you do anything is how you do everything.

 

If you take a mediocre approach with work, you probably do it with your self-care as well. Ya see, it’s a pattern, and most people seek the easy way out, meaning when something requires effort, they give up and quit.

 

They are lackluster at work, and are ok being overweight and out of shape, otherwise, they would do the required work to live by a higher standard.

 

I have come to the conclusion that things are only going to get worse.

 

•We shouldn’t be in shock when someone is nice to us, or when we get great customer service.

•We shouldn’t be facing an obesity epidemic, with all the resources available to us.

•We shouldn’t be elated when someone we hire (contractors etc.) actually does a world-class job, and as a customer we are left happy.

 

These things should be the norm, and we should all try to go above and beyond our call of duty and create high standards to live by.

 

We should be doing our best to take care of ourselves and try to live our best lives, but for some reason that art form is long gone in most instances and the 'good enough” mindset has invaded our society.

 

As for myself and my team, we will not give in to this type of thought process and continue to overdeliver for our members. We will always strive to STAND OUT, and never “fit in” with the masses.

 

Welcome to the mediocre world we now live in.

 

Coach Matt