We had a meeting at work yesterday about improving our customer service. There is a survey that is mailed out to our customers/patients about their stay and how they were treated at our facility. Basically, they are trying to find out how we are doing, and any problem areas that we can improve so consumers will choose us over our competitors. This got me to thinking about some of the experiences I have had, and I copied and pasted one. I most likely will put it in its own category on my site and add to it. I have several. Most people find it funny how things just tick me off, because I am normally an extremely laid back, slow to anger, kind of person. In my defense, I am choosy about where I spend my money, and if I choose you, then treat me right and I will come back. Although, the story here is humorous, I promise you, I found nothing funny about it that day. LOL
Grocery store and fried chicken
I went to the grocery store one Sunday at noon. They fry the best chicken there. If you don’t get there early, you don’t get any chicken. Who knew that this small town grocery store, when they built it would need a much larger kitchen? Us Southerners did. But, they did not ask us. No surveys were done on how much fried chicken could a small southern town after church on Sundays eat? They also did not realize not only were they hiring cooks, but some of the best women/Mothers/Grandmother cooks in this town. Man, can they fry up some chicken! Never, I repeat Never stand between a southerner, after church on Sunday, and his/her fried chicken! If you want the fried chicken in this store, you better place an order early or they run out of chicken. I knew the importance of this, and my entire family, cousins, creek kin, and all were coming for Sunday dinner at my Dad’s after church. And who, you may ask is to provide all the fried chicken for this clan? You probably guessed, smart readers, that would be me. Knowing the importance of this, I, not only called ahead, I went to the store in person, the day before and put in an order for several buckets of chicken. They were to have it ready just before lunch the next day. Ok, move forward, Sunday afternoon I go to pick up my chicken, told them my name, and the sales clerk, who I could tell right off, did not want to be there that day said to me. “We aint got no order for no chicken with your name on it”. Obviously she did not have my ticket. That was the end of that. (She thought). Seriously, she just went back to what she was doing, obviously not realizing the seriousness of this situation. I then said, where is my chicken? She looked at me, like, “are you crazy”. “Maam, I don’t have your chicken.” I said, “someone in this store, will tell me what happened to the chicken I ordered”! She then asked me, would I like to see a manager, in which I so eloquently replied. “Duuuh”????? So the dep’t manager comes up, asks me, in a way like I am really bothering her, “can I help you with something” I attempted to explain to her that I had placed my order the day before and now they don’t have my chicken, what’s up with that. She said, well we place the order, writing it on a piece of paper, like this, she showed me the paper they wrote it on, and stick it to the clipboard, over here, she demonstrated, (like she is having to explain to an idiot about ordering chicken) and then had the nerve to say to me. “I don’t see it there, do you”? It was at that point whereby I start, as my husband says, talking through my teeth. It is a barely restrained rage, and I feel as if I open my mouth, I will say things that Jesus will remind me of one day at the pearly gates, he will say to me “do you remember that time up in the middle of the Piggly Wiggly that you called my name, not in prayer, but in vain? So, I keep my teeth clenched, afraid if I open my mouth, I will start spouting out a string of curse words, like a person with Turrets. Then, very adeptly talking through my teeth, I explained to her what the paper looked like that the clerk the day before had written on, that it was a different size and color all together. My visual memory could see it in my mind as she wrote down my name and phone number. She then told me that they do not even have paper like I was describing to order on. I reached behind the counter where she was standing and picked up a blank one and showed her what it looked like. She then said, Oh well, I guess when we were closed anyone could have came back here and reached on that board and took it off that the order board. I then suggested to her that some of her staff probably took it off said order board so they would not have to fry so much chicken. She was about ready to talk through her teeth at that remark. I then proceeded to tell her, still through my teeth, that a better way to do things would be for them to make out a ticket, give me a copy, or a tab, or a signature, number, anything to link me back to that order. I surmised by her expression that she was not really open for suggestions on how to run her department. So, I asked for her manager. She said he was on vacation, she was in charge, but she would get on the phone with the assistant manager. She proceeded to talk to him, and all I could here her say, was “No, Yes, No, Not really”, and a few mumbled words I could not make out. God only knows what she was saying about me. When she put the phone down she said “Maam, I don’t have your chicken, we are backed up here and all I can offer you is fried chicken strips. I will let you have it for free, would you like for me to do that”, I agreed, and she boxed it up. As she was handing it to me, she said. “I am sorry this happened”. That’s it. Three little words. Do you see what I had to go through to get those three little words. All this time and not once did anyone say that to me, until I was leaving. That’s all I wanted in the first place. If the person, I talked to had just said to me, “ I am sorry, I don’t know how this happened, how can I make it right for you, this is what I will do, and this is what I will do different here to make sure this does not happen again”, I truly, may have been outdone, but I would have accepted it, because everyone makes mistakes. Just make it right. If you are in customer service, place yourself in that customer or consumers position and look at it from their point of view, whether you feel you are right or not. It is not personal. It’s not about you. It’s about the customer. It’s about your job. How hard is that to understand?
BTW, names have been changed to protect the innocent. The innocent here would be Piggly Wiggly. I shop in a small town grocery store very similar to Piggly Wiggly, but it is not actually, “The Pig”.
Also, if Ms. Pat is working, she makes the best mac and cheese. It’s the bomb. But, if you ever were to go there, don’t mention my name. LOL
