Customers | Wayfarer

“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Luke 17:10 (NIV)

In my daily vocation, I have spent my career in the research and assessment of customer service and satisfaction. It’s been a fascinating journey in many ways. In particular, I love that there are so many spiritual parallels.

For example, our research team often tests different dimensions of customer service to discover their impact on customers’ overall satisfaction. Some dimensions of service are revealed to be penalty variables while other dimensions of service are reward variables.

A penalty variable is something that won’t increase customer satisfaction if it’s demonstrated, but it will definitely diminish customer satisfaction if it’s not. For example, if a customer has a problem and calls Customer Service, the simple act of resolving the problem is typically a penalty variable. It’s very much like when our daughters were young and had household chores they were expected to do, such as cleaning their rooms. If I saw that the room was clean, I didn’t seek them out to embrace them, celebrate the completed task, and shower them with praise. Why? Because it’s a routine household task I simply expected to be accomplished. If, however, they didn’t clean their room I definitely sought them out to complain and threaten them with penalties or punishment if they didn’t meet the expectation.

A reward variable, on the other hand, is a dimension of service that increases satisfaction the more often and more consistently it is demonstrated. Soft skills such as empathy, courtesy, and friendliness are typically reward variables. Let’s go back to the example of our daughters doing their chores. As our daughter is cleaning her room and doing her chores, she steps into my home office to empty the trash. She sees my phone on the desk and stops to write “I Love Dad” on a sticky note and takes a selfie with it for me to find when I open my phone later that day. It’s unexpected. It’s considerate. It makes my day and fills my love tank and she is rewarded with my appreciation for her.

In today’s chapter, both penalty variables and reward variables are pointed out by Jesus.

The chapter begins with Jesus teaching His followers. He speaks of the attitude He expects His followers to have as they dutifully obey His teaching. Jesus uses the metaphor of a household employee who prepares his employer’s meal and waits until after the employer has eaten and things are picked up to take his own dinner break. In short, Jesus expects me to approach my acts of service as penalty variables. I don’t do them for praise or reward. I do them out of gratitude and a servant’s heart.

The chapter continues with Jesus telling ten lepers to go to show themselves to the priests. Because skin diseases were a cause for quarantine, a person healed of the disease had to show themselves to the priest to be declared “clean” so they could return to society. As the lepers are making their way to the priests, they realize that they have all been healed of their disease. Only one of the ten turned and returned to Jesus to thank Him. Jesus was impressed with the gratitude that he alone showed.

In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded of another of Jesus’ core teachings: “Whoever wants to be first must be last and the servant of all.” Along the journey, I’ve learned that this requirement is not only of my deeds but most importantly in the attitude of my heart.