I went to Starbucks at Central Plaza for a take-out latte last Friday, after having lunch with a friend working nearby. I have never been to this store before. The shop looked pretty busy during lunch time.

I was in line after a lady with a fur coat and sunglasses – I couldn’t understand how people can manage it in a dark place like this, but of course, it’s eye-catching if this is what you want. And for sure, the Starbucks girl behind the counter got caught and said,

-The coat looks great. I think I have seen you here before.

The lady nodded.

- Are you working nearby?

The lady nodded.

The second question sounded funny to me. If you see someone quite often here, isn’t it 98% certain that he/she is working nearby? The funnier thing is that the girl sounded like an answering machine. Even someone slow like me could sense that she was just talking, maybe as what the company told her to. I could say that she was accurately following the Starbucks rules – to set up rapport with your customers. However, she must have missed out something here – all those need to be done BY HEART.

Then it came to my turn. Well, I didn’t look awesome like that lady in sunglasses at all. That made it hard for the girl to figure out what to say. Then she came up with this:

- Do you still need to work today?

Well, who will go to a Starbucks at CBD during lunch time if he/she does not need to work? Isn’t it common sense, especially for people working at the world’s most popular cafe?

I felt sorry for Starbucks. Under the fierce competition in the F&B industry, every one is trying to attract customers by a unique culture. And it’s a good tactic to set up some emotional linkage with your customers by waving hello and chatting casually.

However, if you just do the wave and chat without heart, people can easily sense the faking smiles and feel bad about the service. It’s even worse than those average services.

Today we all put great importance on customer relationship. But nothing is new here – you should always POUR YOUR HEART INTO IT like Howard Schultz said decades ago. Maybe Howard should write another book on how to maintain the culture when a company grows internationally big. And I do see this as a value-added advantage for start ups.

From my perspective, if you don’t feel like talking and amusing your customers, that’ fine – just don’t do it, or you will damage the relationships by faking yourself. That’s what I am expecting from staff at RHC – to treat your customers with heart in whatever forms you like. NEVER cheat them.