The best customer service without the cutomer

http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/in-japan-the-customer-is-not-king

The link above will take you to an article that was what I feel well written. Japan is a wonderful place to live if you can accept the rules and the package and don't try to get it your way. If you seek to make any changes it can be a most frustrating experience. This article explains why. The company makes customer service a manufactured product so there is little to no exchange or interaction. They can have perfect service by the book but there is something missing. There is a distinct lack of personability.

"I don’t blame the server or the person at the cash register for the inflexibility. They are just following the manual which is incredibly rigid and allows for little or no bending of the rules. There is never any intention of malice or annoyance. And there is never any lack of politeness or friendliness on the part of Japanese service staff. Staff are generally friendly but I find it is a false or insincere friendliness that is obviously right out of line 34 of the training manual. You can often see the catalogue smile on the clerk’s face wane if you ask for anything remotely out of the ordinary. Back home, friendliness is by no means guaranteed when you walk into a shop or restaurant but when you do find it, it tends to be genuine and sincere."

I got to thinking about the Church and the way we can get into the manufactured production of a service. We loose the personability to interact with the people. There needs to be a connection. I can remember many times in my growing up when the pastor would say something profound and men would say amen. That was at a Baptist church even. There would once in a great while be a story told where the pastor would verify the facts with the audience. There was a homey feel to the service. I don't think there should ever be a singling out in a service someone for the brunt of a joke.

In the quote above the service staff is just following the manual. Are there many Christians just following the manual the Bible but are without genuine friendliness? Do Christian who serve the greatest service organization in the Universe have a false and insincere friendliness? Christians can appear friendly and polite and have a false church face. Oh how different our lives would be if we were to follow the apostle Paul's writings: Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.