The Grooming Lounge Blog

On a recent trip to the doctor to get a to-be-named body part looked at, one of the Grooming Guys had a bad experience. The experience had nothing to do with the quality of the care received or the aesthetic of the office, as both the medical staff’s technical knowledge and the atmosphere at the suite are top notch. Instead, the poor experience stemmed solely from the staff breaking a cardinal rule of the service business — a rule we try to train the Grooming Lounge crew to never ever break.

“NEVER BRING YOUR PERSONAL LIFE INTO WORK”

What happened at the doctor that day can be summarized briefly.  Grooming Guy asked nice receptionist how she was doing. Receptionist replied that she’d had better days and that her son was battling an alcohol problem. Details and details of his struggles followed.  From there, Grooming Guy met with the nurse, who talked a lot about her financial struggles and the need to possibly get another job. The grand finale was when the doctor talked about how his lease was coming due soon and might need to relocate the office.

Suddenly, instead of feeling like a cared-for patient, Grooming Guy felt like he was working.  He was a therapist of sorts –  helping these service providers work through their own issues instead of focusing on his shoulder/neck. The events made his neck even stiffer. Sure Grooming Guy liked and cared about them… but this visit should have been about the patient.

Not being the first such experience we’ve endured, we’ve tried to instill in our entire team (Grooming Experts, Skin Care Experts, Guest Services Team, Web Team, etc.) the importance of making the experience “all about and only about the guest.”  When someone comes here to get their hair cut, they should be interested in having a great experience and getting a great cut… not hearing about one of our team’s troubles.  That guest is paying for his time, whether it’s in the store or on the phone with our Web-based Grooming Experts. It should be about finding the perfect solution for that guest. Period.

Now that doesn’t mean we don’t want to work through challenges with our team if we can help.  We’re all ears and know that happiness outside the GL leads to happiness within. We’re a family and the door is always open to offer opinions or options.  But, in the end, it’s in everyone’s best interest to focus on our jobs and leave the rest of the crap at the door.  It will certainly be waiting for them later.

Got that Dr.’s?