Why are we far more likely to complain about poor service than praise good, or even great, service? I guess we might think that “good service” is simply people getting paid to do their job. But, I have to disagree.
Last week, my husband and I swung into a Home Depot to ask some questions about our wood flooring, which hasn't turned out as well as we hoped. We approached a gentleman in the flooring department and started firing questions. He patiently answered our questions, but unfortunately didn’t have all the answers (it’s a complicated problem). He did take the time to print out information about how to properly install our type of wood floor, the supplies needed, etc.
We decided to wander around and check out a few other things. Somewhere between the medicine cabinets and kitchen sinks, the gentleman trotted (literally) up to us, out of breath. He said he had called a friend who has installed a lot of flooring to try to get us some answers. So, let’s get this straight: 1) he bothered to call someone he knew with experience installing floors like ours and 2) he raced around the (large!) store to track us down. He even said “I was so worried you had already left!” I would say that’s going above and beyond his job description and he deserves a pat on the back.
As we were leaving, we approached a young woman at the customer service center--she eyed us a bit suspiciously. I asked where I might share a compliment. She said “Um…a compliment? Would you like to speak to a manager?” Why, yes, yes, I would. So, we let the manager know that the man had gone above and beyond and we were very pleased with his service.
It felt good to compliment a stranger for a job well done and I don’t think it’s done enough in this world. And I can find a single reason why not. I for one am going to attempt to ask for the manager more often and I hope that next time you get great service, you too will ask to speak to the manager!
Thanks again, Danny.
1 comment:
I realized I never responded to this post.... and yet it's possibly my favorite so far b/c I completely agree - we don't recognize people enough when they do good things, only when they make us mad. I don't do this enough for workers, yet I know it means a lot to people. I once sent a glowing email about my insurance rep because he really went above and beyond to get me a reimbursement. I sent in the feedback assuming it was probably going to be lost in cyberworld and he'd never really get recognition, but he wound up emailing to say that he had been told from higher ups that I was thrilled with his service and that he appreciated it. Warm fuzzy feelings all around. :)
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