Customer Service

In the past couple of weeks, I have had several good experiences at Publix {a regional grocery store chain for those not aware}, and it got me thinking about customer service. I think it's sad in this day and age when good customer service stands out to us and is what we remember. Why is it that we come to expect mediocre, or even poor service, and are genuinely surprised when someone does his or her job well, or even goes out of his or her way to help us?

A few weeks ago I was in Publix and was looking for ice cube trays to freeze my homemade baby food in {I know you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition but I don't like sounding too proper-- "in which to freeze" :) }. I couldn't find them so I stopped one man and asked for help. And BTW why is it that I will circle a store 10 times before I ask for help? I am like a man in the sense that I am prideful and don't like to ask for help. It's a character flaw, I know. Anway, he pointed me to the appropriate aisle. I still couldn't find them after looking along the aisle for about 5 minutes, so I flagged down someone else for help. She remembered that they were in a random spot and not labeled and was able to go right to them. But there was only 1 left, and I needed several. Plus they we the wrong shape {as in the ice cube sections were really narrow and I didn't think they would hold much food), so I told her I needed more than one and thanked her for looking. I proceeded to get a few more items and then headed for the checkout. As soon as I had finished paying and was almost out of the door, the female employee caught me and had an armful of ice cube trays. So had gone in the back and grabbed as many as she could. I felt so bad she had gone to all that trouble. I explained to her that not only did I need more than one, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for. I apologized for not telling her that part earlier. I felt awful for inconveniencing her, but I so appreciated her effort!

And then on Friday John and I were grocery shopping, and when I grabbed the milk I saw a sign that said there was a 75 cent coupon for that brand of milk in the front of the store. Now I know it is only 75 cents {well $1.50 because I was getting two cartons}, and I am not a "couponer," but I try to save when I can. So I went up front and looked for the coupon but couldn't find it anywhere. So I asked a sales lady about it, and she tried to find it but couldn't either. So gave me a blank receipt to take to the cashier that said to give me the 75 cents off anyway. Then she changed her mind and decided to look again for the coupon. I told her not to worry about it since it was such a small amount, but she insisted. After searching for a couple of minutes, she came back with two coupons {$1.50 off} for me to use. And I ended up saving over $20 off my grocery bill when all was said and done; that's the best I've ever done!

I always hear people talk about Publix's higher prices, but I think everyone agrees that their reputable customer service has a lot of grocery stores beat. I'm not naive and I'm sure that people have bad experiences there from time to time. But overall the employees are very polite and always willing to help, from insisting on taking your groceries to the car or grabbing your cart in the parking lot so you don't have to return it. And I appreciate the little extra they do to make my day better.

Just some thoughts.

Anywho...

This picture has nothing to do with this post:

Curran has never worn a bow because, although her hair is fairly long, it is so thin and I am afraid that the bow will pull on those delicate little strands. I hate that feeling of hair being pulled when my ponytail is too tight, so I didn't want to put Miss C through that. But Sister was having such a bad hair day on Monday, I thought the bow may help. As you can see, it did not. I couldn't get it in there just right, and it only lasted for about 5 minutes. I should have put it back in though because a lady at Walgreens kept telling me how cute he was. She was old, so I let it slide. But poor C gets called a boy all the time.