Try Not to Annoy Your Clients

Big day in Chapel Hill today.  A new Starbucks opened a few days ago and it is located right on the route that my wife and I (we carpool whenever possible) take to work. 

We decided to stop in on this Monday morning and tank up on some Starbucks coffee (no surprise to those of you who follow me on Twitter). It was about 7:30am when we dragged ourselves into the place.  (Yesterday was our 12th anniversary so we were out drinking celebrating with a bit more abandon than was probably prudent on a Sunday night.) 

We were greeted at the counter by an exceptionally bright-eyed and bushy-tailed barista.  Now, I generally like happy, enthusiastic people in life, but this chick was peppy with a capital "P" and had clearly been mainlining espresso for several hours.

As we handed over our reusable commuter mugs (it is a ticketable offense in Chapel Hill if you fail to use one of these and instead grab a paper cup) the barista fairly well screamed at us, "are you having a SUPER AWESOME TERRIFIC Monday?" 

As I restrained my wife from stuffing the peppy barista headfirst into one of the giant coffee grinders like a weirdly caffeinated variant on the ending of Fargo, it occurred to me that this is a lesson everyone in the service business (yes, that includes lawyers and bar association employees) needs to pay attention to:  try not to annoy your clients.

Whether you practice divorce law or work up collateralized debt obligations (and if this is your practice area, thanks for helping to destroy the economy, I never wanted to retire anyway) your clients come in to see you in a particular emotional state and frame of mind.  They may be depressed, nervous, angry, or even happy (do any of you practice happy people law?  What's that like?), and it is your job to understand that feeling and mirror it.

You don't need to go all crazy active listening ("what I hear you saying is, you'd like to kill your spouse and hide the body...") just get attuned enough so that your behavior doesn't annoy your client.  Be sensitive to the fact that while you may be having a great (or awful) day, your clients are having some kind of day of their own and don't need you harshing their mellow or, God forbid, trying to pep them up at 7:30 a.m.

Have a SUPER AWESOME TERRIFIC Monday!