Re: [TheThinkTank] Vancouver bike mechanics try to change industry bad attitudes

21 Aug 2013

      The biggest point we want to make at Our Community Bikes is inclusivety
(?), that is to say, a space that anyone at any skill or preference will be
respected for their personal choices.
The 'super rich' roadie is welcome to come in and we'll show them how to
set up their Di2 or the student can come in and we'll show them how to
extract and press a cotter pin, with equal measure and service, attention,
etc.
We don't suffer individuals who express entitlement because of their class
or social or bike status.  And we certainly have discovered that
entitlement is an attitude carried by individuals regardless of class or
income or bike type.
We had a history and reputation of hating 'hipsters and their fixies',
then we had a reputation of being 'hipsters', then we had a reputation of
being full of attitude, then a reputation of being the 'organizers of
critical mass', hence smug and self-righteous cyclists, and so on... So
depending on who you talk to, it's become more obvious that there are a
multitude and almost infinite amount of experiences customers are having in
our space, from negative to positive.
The idea is to consistently provide positive experiences for all folks in
our space. That's not impossible, but damn hard to do. There are always
characters who expect the service industry to be their personal boot
lickers. We politely and diplomatically inform them that we aren't suited
to their needs and cannot respectfully provide.
I guess there's so much more to this. It's an ongoing challenge for all of
us.
On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 9:24 AM, christopher@holisticcycles.com wrote:
...
Which customers should not be treated as well as a roady in race shop?
A car sales person told me once about a man who was dresses shabby because
it was his day off and he was gardening. He walked into the car shop, most
of the sales peoples heads went up when the door opened, and then went back
down when they saw how he was dressed. This sales person treated this dirty
man like he would any customer, walking up, saying hi, shaking his hand and
asking how he could help today.   His wife was out when their very old car
had a shock tower rust out and killed the car at a parking lot speed bump.
His daughter was going off to college in two weeks and he thought it might
be time to buy two cars. He was a high corporate salaried person, at the
end of the day wrote a check for the two cars. Came back over the next five
years and bought a car for different people in the family because of his
experience being treated well when he walked into the shop a dirty old man.
We are not hired as judges, we are sales and service, and it should be
damn fine service for all. If it is less then stellar service then it is
not service to the bicycle community at all. Everyone should feel like they
are cherished for being a cyclist and for putting their money into your
hands. After all you do not sell bikes anything, nor to bike pay for
repairs, You are taking care of the transportation needs of a person. Treat
that person very well.
Christopher Wallace
Holistic Cycles/ Bicycle Guild
140 Harrison St
Oak Park, IL. 60304
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Vancouver bike mechanics try to change
industry bad attitudes
From: james bledsoe jamesbleds0e@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, August 20, 2013 11:07 pm
To: The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
i admit to being guilty here but not in the way sighted in the article
my offence is in telling customers that if they walk away from their
bicycle dressed like they will be risking arrest
yes these are fully kitted  roadies who are used to being fawned over.
 but it still is not the type of thing that we need to be doing.
The Bicycle Kitchen was founded in part  as a direct response to the types
of attitudes sighted in the article
and not the shop of  my admission.

*From:* director director@communitycycles.org
*To:* The Think Tank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
*Sent:* Tuesday, August 20, 2013 9:10 PM
*Subject:* Re: [TheThinkTank] Vancouver bike mechanics try to change
industry bad attitudes
Sounds good!
On Tue, Aug 20, 2013 at 10:08 PM, Dax Burgos draxula@gmail.com wrote:
do you mind if i post this in the shop?
D
On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 7:31 AM, director director@communitycycles.orgwrote:
Interesting article about customer service in bike shops.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/08/08/bc-bike-mech...
--
Ride On!
Rich Points
http://communitycycles.org
Executive Director
(c)303-589-0597
(w)720-565-6019
Community Cycles is Boulder's only bike shop dedicated to bike commuting.
Find us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/CommunityCycles

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Ride On!
Rich Points
http://communitycycles.org
Executive Director
(c)303-589-0597
(w)720-565-6019
Community Cycles is Boulder's only bike shop dedicated to bike commuting.
Find us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/CommunityCycles
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Re: [TheThinkTank] Vancouver bike mechanics try to change industry bad attitudes

Jesse Cooper