I would hire the first candidate. However, in today’s world everything you say is being recorded or somebody is paying close attention to what you, as a representative of a company has to say. If an employee does not feel that customer service is important I would see that as a liability because they may not censor themselves in front of customers. That being said, having good technical skills is important to do the job you were hired in the first place. Before hiring either employee I would do a stress test and see how each employee reacts to the scenarios in which they were put.
