Nice Customer Stories

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, I’ve taken a job waitressing to make some extra money for the holidays. It’s taken a bit to get back into the grove, especially since I was never really in the grove. The one and only time I served was at an ice-cream/burger type place in the mid-80’s.

Anyhoo, I work at a new place down the street. Management seems to be a little un-server friendly in that they have a bunch of rules and announce that if you don’t follow them you’ll be fired. For example, they just instituted the ever-popular Specials Mini-Board that must be taken around to each table before the ordering portion of the dinner commences. Or your fired. That type of thing. I figure I’ll just keep working until I’m fired.

It’s a bit more of a challenge for me because it’s mostly a seafood restaurant and I’m allergic (not violently - I can serve it but have never eaten it). It’s just a big huge family of food that has never crossed my mind so, as a beginner, I’m a dunce when it comes to answering questions. Today was my third time being on the floor.

So, a couple comes in. They had a bunch of questions regardint different fish dishes. I didn’t know the answers so I ran to the kitchen and reported back. I just felt like their “ordering experience” was a total mess. Then, I screwed up putting their dinners in, and the way it looked to the kitchen was that I wanted their salads with their dinner. I figured out my mistake in just enough time to give them their salads about 1 minute before their dinner was on the table.

The man was not really outwardly irritated but said, “why do they do that?” (meaning give all the food at once). I said, “It’s totally my fault - I put the order in wrong. Do you want me to have them re-heat your entree?” His wife then asked if I had dishes I could put over the entrees to keep them warm. Sure! So I brought dishes and put them over the entrees while they ate the salads. There was just not one thing about either of them that was snotty or demeaning regarding having their entrees on the side of the table with plates over them.

Then, the man (who really liked the yellowtail snapper once he was eating it) wanted some extra sauce. Sure! The kitchen had to whip him up some sauce but by the time they did, his food was cold. Hot nice sauce, cold food. So, I brought his half eaten plate back for them to re-heat (microwave). Finally, he had hot sauce and hot food. This whole time, they were just really, really nice.

Anyway, I can’t believe how long this is. I just meant to whip up a little paragraph about these folks. They ended up leaving me a really nice tip - $10 on $43 something. When I gave them their bill, I said “thank you so much for being so nice about everything,” and I truly meant that and expected $4, if that.

The whole thing just reminded me about the nice part of serving - you can really run into people that make your day.

That is all.

2

Nice thread idea!

I worked retail for a horrible 2 months, several years ago, in a place I refer to as Shoe Hell. I was the assistant manager, and hated every minute of it. But one day, a mother brought her 8-ish-year-old daughter in to buy some sandals. The little girl had braces on her legs and feet, but she REALLY wanted some white sandals for summer.

That child was so sweet and polite, and we tried on every pair of sandals in the store. None fit over her braces. Finally, her Mom gave up, and they decided to leave and look elsewhere. As they left, the Mom stopped by the counter to tell me she appreciated the “special” attention (just customer service, in my mind) and that she would be calling the corporate office to tell them about the wonderful service they’d received. And she wanted my boss’s name so she could call the store and compliment me, too.

I loved customers like that. Cooperative, friendly, and willing to pass along a little praise. Wish there were more people that nice in the world…

3

I work retail pharmacy…I am a tech, but I also am required to spend some time on the register. One older gentlemen always tells me how beatiful I am when he comes in. A guy I work with quickly pointed out one day that he has coke-bottle glasses on, but it still makes my day to have him come in.

4

I once had a horrible, horrible customer yelling at me from across a store for a while. Soon after the customer left, another who had been browsing in the next department came over to me and complemented me on the way I had handled the bad one.

It made such a huge difference to me that I always try to give a customer service associate a friendly comment whenever they are in the same situation.

5

Good luck on the serving job. I’ve been doing it for several years now and I’m surprised I haven’t killed any one yet.

There’s one couple that really sticks out in my mind. It was a horrible night. Food was taking over half an hour to come out of the kitchen. People were getting pissed. One couple even left because the kitchen completely lost their ticket. Just one of those all around bad nights.

It was getting towards the end of the rush, but the kitchen was still behind. Last thing I wanted was another table. I was seated this couple, probably in their late forties. I warned them that their food might take a little while to make, but they were completely happy with that. They actually didn’t want it right away. They were content simply sitting there, sipping their drinks and talking.

About twenty five minutes later their food came out. They loved it. We began chatting with each other and joking around. For some reason they loved me. They asked if I would be their daughter in law, kidding with me of course. They ended up leaving me $10 on 50. They were so nice, it made my night.
Oh, about the seafood. Where I’m at we serve a lot of it. I can’t stand the stuff. The key is just to notice the trends and learn how they’re made. That way you can recommend and describe things well enough without ever having to taste it.

6

Thanks for the tip (Har Har) on the seafood ShadiRoxan. I never knew how much I don’t know about fish!

7

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away I was a tax collector. Given this was in the field of taxation without representation I was incredibly hated by everyone of course… or so I presumed.

I used to get thank you cards and letters and comments to my supervisors about my work. People actually took time to notice that even the hated tax collector was a person doing a job as well as they could and were mostly lovely to me as I reached into their pockets and robbed them blind. People can really surprise you.