Thoughts from the road: Texaco and law firm customer service

Last weekend I was able to attend LexThink, the conference “about nothing” (which turned out to be about everything) organized by Matt Homann, Dennis Kennedy and Sherry Fowler.  As I headed out of Chicago after five days on the road (Techshow immediately preceded LexThink), I should have been drained and exhausted.  But, as I hinted earlier, my head was racing with thoughts and ideas that (mostly) related to improving professional practices.

My thoughts kept returning to customer service and what we, as consumers, consider acceptable these days.

Somewhere in northern Indiana (I drove home to Toledo), I was struck with an image from Back to the Future, the 80’s flick starring Michael J. Fox.  Remember the scene set in the 50’s story line in which a car pulls into a Texaco station and several uniformed attendants rush to the car and begin servicing it?  There’s no dialogue between the attendants, and the action really happens in the background, all in an attempt to set the scene in 50’s America.  I specifically remember my mom and dad laughing at that scene together.  It accomplished its goal so effectively that I’m betting everyone who reads this post will remember it vividly.

The joke of course lies in the contrast made in the film between the ‘50’s and modern America (the 80’s in the film).  Customer service in this country had changed so radically between the 50’s and the 80’s that director Robert Zemeckis only needed to show a brief scene that invoked fond memories of an earlier time to make a point…and get a laugh.  My mom and dad, along with every other baby boomer in the country, were remembering “the day” and contrasting it to the grimey self-serve pumps available at modern gas stations.

At the time of the movie, my sisters and I didn’t quite get it.  We sort of used it as a way to laugh at my mom and dad, not the movie (‘there they go being old again…’).  We had only ever known grime and self-serve.  Full service was something you paid extra for, which no one in our circles ever did.

But now I get it.  And I don’t think its that funny.  In fact, I think its more sad than funny.  The decline has continued, placing us at a point today that lies below the level of the 80’s.  A real concern for me is that poor customer service practices today aren’t just limited to gas stations and fast food joints (later in my trip home from Chicago, I was reminded of the Texaco scene when the crew member at McDonald’s gave me my change in a wad — literally a wad —  of bills; didn’t they used to count the bills out as they handed them to me?).  Crummy service is everywhere…including professional practices.  How many times have you left a message with a lawyer that goes unreturned?

Where do we go from here?  What about the future?  Will this behavior, over time, become acceptable in the practice of law (or any other profession)?  Has this already happened?

I certainly hope not, and I’m betting that fellow LexThink attendees are of similar persuasion.  I’m going to hold onto the Texaco scene as a model (remind me to call my mother later…).  Figuratively speaking, when a client pulls into the drive, I’m going to keep jumping out of my chair to see what they need. 

Maybe I can convince my fellow rethink(ip)’ers [Nipper][Sorocco] to buy Texaco shirts from a retro shop…

UPDATE:  I continued my thinking on the Texaco model over at the rethink(ip) blog.