I chose to observe and evaluate a Wal-Mart Tire and Lube customer service representative. On February 16, 2002, I went to the Wal-Mart store in Upstate New York to change both of the tires on the front of my car. At around 4:45 PM, I walked up to the Tire and Lube department counter inside of the store.
A customer service representative, Linda, proceeded to assist me with my purchase. While my order was being worked on, I observed Linda while at work. I was able to observe Linda, while she was taking care of about six customers. For this observation report, I chose to evaluate this worker on the following criteria:Politeness – how polite she is with customers and her coworkers?Interest – does her job seem to be interesting or boring to her, and her reaction to performing tasks for her job?Speediness – her pace of performing tasks for her job. Knowledge – how knowledgeable she is about her area of work?Cleanliness – how clean she is dressed and how clean her workspace is?Organization – how organized her desk and her papers are?Personality – how well she interacts with customers and coworkers?Interaction with coworkers – how well she interacts and works with her coworkers?Efficiency – how efficient she is with performing tasks for her job?Laziness – if she is lazy or not while at work (if yes, then how lazy?). Most customers that were assisted by Linda had smiles on their faces; they also smiled while talking with her.
All customers seemed very satisfied with her help and had all of their questions answered. While taking orders, Linda was very polite with customers and listened well to what the customers had to say. She appeared very interested in her job and helping people find, order, and buy what they needed. Despite taking her time helping customers, Linda worked in a very proficient pace and did not take any breaks or deep breaths in between the orders. She also seemed to be very knowledgeable and experienced in this line of work.
She was asked a plethora of questions while observed by me, and there were not any that she could not answer. However, some customers seemed perplexed by a few of her answers, most of the time it was because of the terminology. At that time, Linda proceeded to explain her answer further until the customer seemed satisfied with the answer. She was well-dressed in her work uniform which was very neat and clean, especially considering her type of work. This also reflected on her workspace, which included her desk, a computer, and customer counter. All of her orders and other papers were very well-organized and her workspace was clean.
While assisting customers, Linda laughed and mingled with them, she tried to come off as their friend and help them make the right choice. Her coworkers seemed glad in working with Linda. They threw out a few jokes here and there to each other to entertain customers. When her coworkers asked her questions, she carefully explained what needed to be done. She was very efficient in performing all tasks for her job and completed everything right away, rather than leaving it off for later.
Although Linda appeared to be getting tired closer to the end of her workday, she did not show any signs of laziness and did not waste any of her work time. After orders were completed, every customer walked away with a smile on his or her face and was glad to do business with Linda. In addition, Linda made sure that after each order was completed she told the customer to come back again and thanked him or her for his or her business. In my opinion, Linda is a professional. She handles her work in a very professional manner and cares about her customer. Furthermore, I feel that she has fulfilled all my criteria of a valuable worker.
On a scale from 1 to 10, I rate her job performance at 10 and see her succeed in her future. I was glad to be taken care of and have all my questions answered by Linda. I will not hesitate to come back and do business with her again in the future. I will recommend her assistance to the people I know that are in search of a new tire or lube job. I feel Linda has the right job ethics and has what it takes to perform this job. Furthermore, I feel that she should be promoted and at the very least, be given a raise.
She is a very valuable worker to the customer as well as to the department. I am certain Linda will succeed in her future goals and wish her the best of luck.
