The Art of Service

Giuseppe Lama, managing director for The Resort at Pelican Hill, shares his wisdom on what it takes to excel in customer service.

just got smile-tested and didn’t even know it. Giuseppe Lama, managing director for The Resort at Pelican Hill, was the smile tester, and I, apparently, was the testee.

It took only 15 seconds, but in that short time, Lama says that he could tell if I was good-natured, wanted to be there and was comfortable with myself. How nerve-racking. And he didn’t even tell me the results, though I was desperate to know: Would he hire me?

Lama plans on using this basic smile test to hire a staff of 1,000 for The Resort at Pelican Hill, set to open this fall. Everyone from busboys to chefs to front desk managers will be smile-tested and assessed for their ability to be a “deliverer of service,” as Lama puts it. “I want to know: Are you a pro-person – do you like people?” he says. “Or do you want to hide? We believe that you cannot change people’s behavior, but you can modify it through proper training.”

Exhibit A: “Proper training” amounts to a multi-sectioned tome that lands with a thud on his desk. Divided into technical and behavioral components that track the lives of new employees by the hour, training consists of everything from the thread count of the sheets to properly greeting resort guests by making eye contact and “depositing into their emotional bank account,” says Lama, who imparts that noticing the color of another’s eyes is part of his smile test. (I immediately look deep into his brown eyes, but was it too late? The question still hangs in the air like suffocating humidity. I want to choke out: “Would you hire me?)

Ninety days later, fully trained employees emerge, kitted out in their custom-measured uniforms. In addition to all the technical specs, they have been advised on everything from the right haircut to makeup application by a special-hire image consultant, who preaches the fundamental rule that heavy makeup is a definite no-no; it means that the employee wants to be better looking than the customer. “And that can’t happen,” says Lama, his eyes growing wider at the horrific prospect.

I desperately hope that my makeup falls under the category of “just right,” that my lip gloss isn’t too… glossy. And in my paranoid state, I miss Lama noting his approval of my behavior.

I was worthy. Only, I don’t need a job. If you do, log onto www.pelicanhill.com for more information.

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