U.S. Customs

IMO, Work load should have no effect on customer service skills. If anything, it can affect performance of their duties.

No matter how busy a person is, it's not acceptable to take it out on the citizen standing in front of you. Yell to your superiors if you have to.

Some people have no customer service skills to begin with. They don't have any business dealing with people. That combined with an unusually heavy workload is enough to make every single customer experience a bad one.

I could care less about their customer service skills. They were hired for their enforcement skills and that's what they do best.

It seems to me that if they are working that much, they are under staffed.
Perhaps they need to bring in more resources.
I have been at the airport and also on cruise ships where the wait times to clear customs were quite lengthy and I would also like to say their disposition, even under difficult curcumstances, were always pleasant in my experience.

Hi William,

I think that the customer service skills of the Customs agents that work at the STT airport, are just fine. In fact, I feel that they do their job quite efficiently for the most part.

In general, I find that most Customs/Border agents (in the US and internationally) tend to have a very stern demeanor, but I believe that this is a job requirement and that this way of interacting with people serves a certain purpose.

Mell....thats a good point...
The demeanor probably does have something to do with training....I think a pleasant hello and if your aren't hiding anything, the experience should be a positive one.
I am not sure how well they are compensated, but as federal employees I think they are doing ok.....

All I know is - they got a great computer support guy! And I'm handsome, too!