Wednesday, July 19, 2006
More of Friday (or, A little kindness goes a LONG way)
Post-VBS clean up, I rushed home (kids in tow) and tossed the younger two in bed for a quick nap while I showered of the funk from working in the 114 heat.
An hour later we were headed to Krispy Kreme for a belated "friends" birthday party for our Princess Piggy (crazy, I know, but many of my teacher friends had to head back to work this week, so it was the best day for it!).
The assistant manager in charge of the party obviously wanted to give us a great experience--she had personally decorated the entire restraunt! However, she had two major things working against her. First, she wasn't trained in how to give a party--and it showed. Several of my friends and I "stepped in" more than once to keep the crowd from getting out of hand. Second--the air conditioner wasn't working properly and it was at least 95 degrees in the lobby. Not the ideal scenario, especially when I'm paying someone else to run my child's party!
Fortunately, my daughter had a great time, and as a "seasoned" mommy, that was pretty much good enough for me. The poor KK manager was not as happy--she was hot, overwhelmed, and very aware of her shortcomings in presenting the "total package" of the party; not to mention a bit nervous as to how I would react when she asked me to pay the balance of my bill.
I took a deep breath and a big sip of my cold drink ( did I mention it was really hot?), and told her that while I agreed that the party wasn't ideal, I also thought that she did an awesome job with what she had to work with--that such an excellent employee deserved better training, that I understood that she couldn't control the air conditioner issue, and that I was planning on writing the corporate office and telling them so. I also reminded her that in addition to the balance of my party fee; I owed her for the adult "drink tab" I was running and for three extra children who had shown up.
That was not the reaction she was expecting! She promptly dropped all of my extra charges and asked dd1 (who was at the register with me) what our family's favorite types of donuts were, and sent us home with a huge box of assorted "fancies". We were both smiling as I left. I imagine she was smiling at avoiding a PR nightmare; and I was smiling because I wasn't the one cleaning up after a six-year-old's party!
The moral? Well, I guess it never hurts to be nice...and customer service really isn't dead.
Oh, and I did write that email...and got a nice phone call from the store manager in return.
An hour later we were headed to Krispy Kreme for a belated "friends" birthday party for our Princess Piggy (crazy, I know, but many of my teacher friends had to head back to work this week, so it was the best day for it!).
The assistant manager in charge of the party obviously wanted to give us a great experience--she had personally decorated the entire restraunt! However, she had two major things working against her. First, she wasn't trained in how to give a party--and it showed. Several of my friends and I "stepped in" more than once to keep the crowd from getting out of hand. Second--the air conditioner wasn't working properly and it was at least 95 degrees in the lobby. Not the ideal scenario, especially when I'm paying someone else to run my child's party!
Fortunately, my daughter had a great time, and as a "seasoned" mommy, that was pretty much good enough for me. The poor KK manager was not as happy--she was hot, overwhelmed, and very aware of her shortcomings in presenting the "total package" of the party; not to mention a bit nervous as to how I would react when she asked me to pay the balance of my bill.
I took a deep breath and a big sip of my cold drink ( did I mention it was really hot?), and told her that while I agreed that the party wasn't ideal, I also thought that she did an awesome job with what she had to work with--that such an excellent employee deserved better training, that I understood that she couldn't control the air conditioner issue, and that I was planning on writing the corporate office and telling them so. I also reminded her that in addition to the balance of my party fee; I owed her for the adult "drink tab" I was running and for three extra children who had shown up.
That was not the reaction she was expecting! She promptly dropped all of my extra charges and asked dd1 (who was at the register with me) what our family's favorite types of donuts were, and sent us home with a huge box of assorted "fancies". We were both smiling as I left. I imagine she was smiling at avoiding a PR nightmare; and I was smiling because I wasn't the one cleaning up after a six-year-old's party!
The moral? Well, I guess it never hurts to be nice...and customer service really isn't dead.
Oh, and I did write that email...and got a nice phone call from the store manager in return.
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1 Comments:
A great reminder, Heather, that we have the power to bless people in their workplaces just as they have the power to bless their customers! Hope your dd 2 had a great time!!
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