Meet Our Team: Celebrating Customer Service Week 2019

My father taught me two things at a very early age: never be rude to someone who is preparing your food and always be courteous to anyone working in customer service. My dad managed teams in various service industries all his life – from fast food, to convention centre kitchens, to hotels. He truly made me understand the respect that anyone in a customer-facing role deserves and the daily challenges they deal with. He even gave me some tips after I got my first customer service role as a McDonald’s cashier when I was 16.

Those lessons are equally as important now in my adulthood. I am grateful to work at Daniels Health where customer service and support for our customer service teammates is so important. October 7^th marks the beginning of Customer Service Week 2019. This is an international awareness week that we are eager to celebrate across our business. In my time at Daniels, I’ve had the pleasure of working with our administrators and support teams across the US. This blog is to praise them, their efforts, and provide a small insight into how amazing they all are – while having some fun! A few of our Administrators and Customer Care Advocates across the nation took time out of their busy days to answer a few questions. Read their professional, thoughtful, and funny responses below to quickly see why we appreciate them so.

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Daniels is known for our clinically-engineered reusable sharps containers – that also happen to be tamperproof. This means sometimes people lose things in our containers, and to their surprise, cannot get in the container to retrieve the item. This feature is to promote safe medical waste disposal, but often surprises customers at how secure our containers are.

What is the most odd or common thing, that isn’t medical waste, that you’ve found in one of our containers?

• "Empty beer cans and liquor bottles. Those definitely aren't healthcare waste." 

– Barry Carty, Winnipeg MB

• "Nothing super odd; we get a lot of glasses, cell phones, wallets etc."

– Meaghan Sloan, Brampton ON

• "A diamond ring!" 

– Olga Zaitsev, Brampton ON

• "Thong, denture." 

– Simon Smereka, St-Bruno QC

Editor’s note: I am hoping the thong and the denture weren't in the same container. I have a lot of questions about that one.

What type of customer really makes your day, makes you smile?

• "I appreciate an organised, timely customer. Someone who knows their order like the back of their hand." 

– Barry Carty, Winnipeg MB

• "I love customers who understand that we are also people. We make mistakes, we are human. They are more than happy to work with us to allow us to make any mistakes right." 

– Meaghan Sloan, Brampton ON

• "Patient, understanding, honest and responsible."

– Olga Zaitsev, Brampton ON

• "I appreciate a customer who places their orders in time. It helps me deliver our best service." 

– Simon Smereka, St-Bruno QC

Customer Service can be draining. How does your team keep morale up and support each other?

• "Normally with laughter and appreciation luncheons." 

– Barry Carty, Winnipeg MB

• "We are a family. We bounce ideas off each other and support each other when work load is building. We laugh...a lot." 

– Meaghan Sloan, Brampton ON

• "Encouragement for the job well done, helping each other with difficult issues and working together as a team to complete a task – like month end billings." 

– Olga Zaitsev, Brampton ON

• "Keep a light ambiance." 

– Simon Smereka, St-Bruno QC

It’s clear that laughter and empathy are what keeps our Customer Service team going. We’re so thankful that they have championed this culture of support for each other, even through working across different time zones with one another.

What has surprised you most in your role as an Administrator or Customer Care Advocate?

• "Not too much. I expect to run into the unknown." 

– Barry Carty, Winnipeg MB

• "How the company is so customer-service friendly. We will always go above and beyond for the customer, which I love!"

– Meaghan Sloan, Brampton ON

• "The amount of paperwork that goes in and out everyday."

– Olga Zaitsev, Brampton ON

• "Team efficiency!" 

– Simon Smereka, St-Bruno QC

And finally, do you have any tips or tricks you would recommend to someone else in a Customer Service role?

• "Try to apply common sense. Understand what each particular customers needs and is asking for." 

– Barry Carty, Winnipeg MB

• "Know all aspects of the business you can. There is nothing worse for the customer experience when you have to bounce them around to different departments. If you expand your knowledge on different business departments, you are in a way better position to help the customer."

– Meaghan Sloan, Brampton ON

• "Try to gather knowledge from every department to really understand your role as all departments tie in together. Hands-on knowledge is the best knowledge."

– Olga Zaitsev, Brampton ON

I would be lying if I said I didn’t get the warm fuzzies reading all the responses from our teammates. In a role that has challenges daily and requires a high level of empathy, these champions of care consistently prove how much they value helping others. For them, it’s not even about business, it’s about retaining a human element of connection and aid – it’s about service.

If you have had a Daniels Health teammember make a positive impact in your relationship, please take the time to acknowledge them by completing the survey below. Happy Customer Service Week 2019!

Know an awesome Daniels Employee? Tell us!