Thaindian News

October 16, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Miss having a nice, friendly conversation with a real person in this day and age of emails, texts, and voice-enabled services? Go to Pizza Express at Richmond, Surrey, where the friendly staff will serve you up a hearty slice of pizza topped with a few flirtatious remarks. No kidding!

According to the latest reports, Pizza Express has hired a professional actor to help its staff master the art of conversation. Karl James, who runs The Dialogue Project, has designed the new recruitment and training process for the joint, claiming that a warm smile and a bit of friendly small-talk can do wonders for the business and provide the customers with a nicer experience overall. James’ unique conversational techniques are basically aimed at making the customer feel more relaxed.

Pizza Express staff is now learning how to engage in friendly banter, modify their body language to show more friendliness, and even flirt with the customer occasionally, albeit in an appropriate manner. While the staff themselves are unsure of how far to take the “friendly chit-chat”, Angela Baron, an engagement adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development endorsed the method saying that this approach is not only ideal but almost a necessity in the customer-service industry, where it is important to make the customer feel at ease and enjoy where they are, if they are ever to come back.

Baron brushes away concerns from skeptics who believe this method borders on inappropriate conduct, saying that the employees are not soliciting romance on the side, but are merely learning how to be friendly with their customers and have an outgoing and pleasant personality.