Last week I witnessed my elderly mum receive
totally inappropriate customer service from a leading bank. This got me thinking about our attitude to
elderly people. After all an
elderly person is someone’s much loved parent or grandparent and we may all get
to that age one day if the life cards we were dealt are kind.
Succinctly, mum was closing one bank account and
opening a new account with a different provider. The bank assistant (certainly under 30 years of age), who
clearly knew the banks IT system inside out, proceeded to whizz through the
screens without stopping to check mum could read the screen display let alone
take in the contents of the page. She
talked very quickly, too quickly for mum to understand and mum struggled to
grasp all of the information she was being asked to process and take in. When I requested the bank assistant repeat what she had
said and talk more slowly her speech slowed very marginally and began to
shout. My mother is not deaf just a
little slower on the uptake these days! On
being asked to repeat information the bank assistant became impatient and was
clearly agitated by being asked to repeat her script. A lot of paperwork, in small print, was
generated. Mum struggles to read the
font size and to digest all of the information on the page in the time she was
given. Needless to say all of the
paperwork was passed to me to check.
What if I had not accompanied mum?
During the whole appointment, which lasted around 30 minutes, the bank
assistant never once asked mum if she had any questions of if she would like to
have anything repeated. When I asked
questions of clarification on mums behalf I was made to feel I was being a
nuisance, intentional or not!
In dealing with my mum the bank assistant
lacked empathy, understanding and consideration, showing a total inability to
communicate effectively with mum in an appropriate manner and she remained
oblivious to the fact that the interaction was for the most part a one way
conversation with little or no input from my mum. Should this fact not have given the bank
assistant a clue that her communication style was not suitable nor indeed appropriate? The experience was not a good one with the
appointment very rushed. The bank assistant rushed through the process
seemingly in a great hurry to have it concluded. A run of the mill appointment to her was not
so to my mum, for whom changing banks after 30+ years was a big deal. Mum was
left feeling foolish, inadequate and not a little upset by the experience.
Why do the young treat the elderly with such a lack
of respect?
The World Health Organisation estimates that
globally, for the first time in history, the number of people aged 65 and over
will, by 2050, outnumber children aged five and under. According to Age UK, there are nearly 14.7 million
over-60s, almost 23% of the population, in the UK.
Senior citizens now make up such a large part of
the population and increasingly so, surely organisations customer service training
programmes needs to instruct staff how to better deal with the elderly. The key in this is
empathetic treatment allowing more time and checking understanding. Staff need to be insightful, taking the time
to understand the needs and requirements of their elderly customers being more sensitive
to their needs. Our elderly deserve to be better treated, staff dealing with
the elderly should be encouraged to go the extra mile and to ensure a mutually
good experience is the outcome of the meeting / transaction.
Given our spend consumer society and the much
mentioned 'grey purchasing power,’' I am surprised many organisations still appear
to give so little thought to not only satisfying but exceeding the expectations
of their elderly customers, or potential elderly customers. Elderly
customers have unique needs. Age UK reports over-65s
in the UK spend £2.2billion a week on goods and services. My mums experience tells me they are not
getting proper service.
I am reminded of a very moving and powerful poem
about old age which it strikes me could be a useful aide memoir to all staff in
organisations who deal with the elderly in our community and not just elderly
care.
See Me
What do you see, nurses, what do you see?Are you thinking, when you look at me –
A crabby old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habit, with far-away eyes,
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice — “I do wish you’d try.”
Who seems not to notice the things that you do,
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe,
Who unresisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you’re thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, you’re looking at ME…
I’ll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still;
As I rise at your bidding, as I eat at your will.
I’m a small child of ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another,
A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet.
Dreaming that soon now a lover she’ll meet;
A bride soon at twenty — my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep;
At twenty-five now I have young of my own,
Who need me to build a secure, happy home;
A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last;
At forty, my young sons have grown and are gone,
But my man’s beside me to see I don’t mourn;
At fifty once more babies play ’round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,
I look at the future, I shudder with dread,
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I’ve known;
I’m an old woman now and nature is cruel –
‘Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool.
The body is crumbled, grace and vigor depart,
There is now a stone where once I had a heart,
But inside this old carcass a young girl still dwells,
And now and again my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I’m loving and living life over again,
I think of the years, all too few — gone too fast,
And accept the stark fact that nothing can last –
So I open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
Not a crabby old woman, look closer, nurses — see ME!
This poem was found among the possessions of an elderly lady who died in the geriatric ward of a hospital. No information is available concerning her — who she was or when she died. Reprinted from the “Assessment and Alternatives Help Guide” prepared by the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care.
