To be of service

Today, I emailed a company regarding the poor customer service I received while shopping in their store. Let me just say, this is something that I NEVER do. I am still not quite sure what provoked me to send the email, but then I received such steller service today at a fast food joint, and it made me want to share.

I will begin with our shopping trip to the Stonebriar Mall, a few weeks ago, in Frisco TX. This was just a mundane trip, we were not shopping for anything in particular....just a typical family outing. Jason and I passed by the Swim n Sport store and I sort of thought out loud, "I really need to consider getting a new bathing suit." Jason agreed and and we walked in to look for a bit. I didn't even really want to get one. (You see, my last swimsuit purchase was for our honeymoon back in 2004.) Since having a child I knew that my next suit would be a one piece. No more cute little bikini's for me!! I consider myself a very modest person, and while I'm not huge....I have some "mom" baggage, so I wanted something that covered me up and sucked me in!! We were immediately greeted by a very nice, cute sales girl and she asked what I was looking for and I told her. She picked out several things for me to try on and put me, my husband, and Jaxon in his stroller in the biggest fitting room she had. (I made Jason go into the fitting room with me as I did not want to walk out in the middle of the store with each suit I tried on asking if it looked okay!) After trying on all the different ones I finally decided on the pretty teal one. It made me look one size smaller and was such a pretty color on my pale skin. I very nicely put the swim suits that I did not want back on the hangers and left them in the room, and I got my boys and we proceeded to the register. I suppose I should also say that my swim suit was not a cheap purchase by any means! I look at it like an investment really. Something I plan on having for awhile. (coming from someone who has only purchased swim suits at Target and Old Navy) As I laid my suit on the counter and Jason pulled out his wallet, my sales lady asked if we would like to buy any of the $15 suit cleaner? I very politely declined, and was frowned upon by her, and the 2 other sales girls standing behind her. We were then asked again, "Are you sure you don't want to protect your investment?" My husband then politely said, "No, not today, maybe we'll come back and get some another day." I was already having a hard enough time spending what we just spent on the suit to even want to spend one more penny on anything else. Well, boy did the mood change! We went immediately from friendly customer chatting to....nothing. After they ran our card, and messed with their cash register for some minor problem, the girl bagged up my suit, put our receipt in the bag and we were on our way. No, "have a nice day", no, "thank you", no nothing! On our way out I looked at Jason and said, "Well, they were obviously upset that we didn't buy the cleaner."

Please understand, I really try to make a concious effort to be respectful of fast food employees, waiters/waitresses, and retail sales people. When placing orders at driver thru's, I try to always know exactly what I want, and I try to speak loud and clear. The same goes for eating at a sit down restaurant. Since having Jaxon, my husband has even gone as far as to pick up the food on the floor so that they won't have to clean it up! We always leave atleast a 20% tip when we receive good service. When shopping at a grocery store, or a department store, I always try to be ready at the register with my coupons or money or whatever the case may be, so that they can carry on and move to the next person in line.


So fast forward to today. I decided to drive thru Taco Bell on my lunch break. I don't frequent the Bell, but I was in the mood for something different today. I kept thinking about it in the hours leading up to noon, and was really hoping that it was going to be a good choice. It is either hit or miss with fast food chains. Either its great, or its awful! I pulled up to the speaker and waited for someone to take my order. A few seconds later this VERY chipper, enthusiastic female voice came over the speaker and asked, "Welcome to Taco Bell, how may I help you today?!" She was so overly friendly in fact that I kind of laughed out loud, and then told her what I wanted. She then asked me, "Are you sure you don't want a drink with that today ma'am?" and I told her no, that I already had one. There were 2 cars ahead of me, but I was only in the line for about a minute and a half when she politely took my card, swiped it, gave me my receipt, and then handed me my food, and told me to have a wonderful day. She was literally so nice, that I had forgotten about my bad morning at work. She put me in a better mood!

The same is true for the fast food chain known as Chick Fil A. Have you ever noticed that no matter what you ask for, it is always, "their pleasure!" If I get a refill, and say "thank you", they always respond with, "my pleasure!" EVERY single time! I am certain that if I were to dump my soda on the floor, and ask them to mop it up, they would respond with "my pleasure!" I think it is such a great concept.

So, to all of the fast food workers, waiters and retail sales people, I hope that you know that there are people out there that really appreciate and respect what you do. So, smile, be happy, and be polite, and you never know, you might just make someone's day.