Which criteria matter most to a hiring manager?

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Your rite iamnotaparakeet about WalMart employees being used as a punching bag by customers but it's been my experience that most people don't go to WalMart expecting great customer service or any costumer service for that matter. They only have 2 or 3 cashiers checking out when they need 6 so the lines are extremely long. I can understand why those customers are upset. I had complements from some cuz I actually tried to assist em. I wasn't a stocker either(I was cleaning floors) so I think some customers wer really surprised/caught off guard that I actually tried & cared. About two weeks after I quit; I was shopping there & some customer started talking to me about something; I had assisted her a few times before with stuff(I was kind of confused till she asked me if was working that nite) she was upset when I told her how I was forced to quit. I dealt with some very rude customers to thou. One actually contacted district about me being racist. She asked me to check to see if we had something that wasn't on the shelf. We stock things as they came in & I told her that if it's not on the shelf we don't have it. She walked away & rite after another customer asked me if I knew where something was & I went show her. 1st customer was a minority & me & the 2nd one weren't. I didn't know anything was wrong till the next nite when management had a meeting with me & my supervisor about it. I wasn't in trouble or anything cuz my supervisor brought up how we had minorities in our department & in other departments who've been accused of being racist by customers & other employees & management refused to do anything about it.

I've worked about three months at a sporting goods store after I left WalMart & the store cared about customer service. I never had a customer complaint(as for as I know) & the customers wer a lot easier to deal with.
I can understand t0's point about needing to be professional when dealing with costumers but I think effort is a big part of it. If the costumers can tell the person is trying(even if the worker isn't near perfect at it) customers will be fairly understanding about it if the person is willing to find someone else to better assist.

BTW I'm wondering what t0's business is as well & if it's near me by any chance. It probably would not be rite for me but I'm unemployed on the very small chance anyone reading this is near me & has connections or anything

We're a VoIP provider / ISP / network solution provider. We cater mostly to businesses and government entities.

I think most customer service employees deal with angry customers. That's not the "expectation" I'm referring to. The amount of attention and time our customers receive during projects would be similar to showing up at Walmart and having an employee walk the store with you while you shop. If you had a question about any product in the store, the employee would answer it, or have another employee there within a couple minutes that could tell you anything you wanted to know about the product. Our customers don't ask for this service - they expect it without asking - so that's what we provide.

That's why I think communication skills during an interview is something that is important to evaluate. Our customers expect an excellent experience.

Ah, so it's a B2B entity. That changes the type of customer at the same time though. Customers at Wal-Mart and at restaurants, they are the general public and wish to be treated like aristocracy. When dealing with other businesses, there is a facade of professionalism and fake politeness which is expected of both parties.