Everyone’s always very ready to bitch and moan about things that are bad. Granted, customer service is frequently less than stellar at many businesses, especially the big boxes, so it’s not entirely surprising when we hear a lot about what’s wrong with retail.

What about what’s right? More flies with honey and all that, after all. I hope that I’ll find moments now and then when something in a shopping experience seems to work, when an associate somewhere goes the extra mile, and when I do, I’ll make a point of telling you about it here.

Today, for instance, Gryphon and I went on our weekly errands to the local Target store. And we experienced a moment of customer service gold that was worthy of, well - I can’t say I shop at any high-end, classy establishments, but I’ll bet the good ones are like this.

A couple of weeks ago on our Target stop, 12-packs of Pepsi products were on sale. We wanted to get one of my favorite flavor, Pepsi Jazz in the Black Cherry and Vanilla flavor, but the spot on the shelf was empty.

An associate happened to walk by right about then, and we asked if there was a chance there was any extra stock out back. She gladly went off to look for us, but came back a few moments later, very apologetic about the absence of my flavor.

Fair enough. We thanked her for looking, grabbed a 12-pack of the Strawberries and Creme Jazz (my second choice), and went about our way.

So there we are today, walking through Target. We’ve finished our shopping, and are heading past DVDs, books, stationery, towards the checkout lines at the front of the store. And there, coming down the main aisle towards us, was the same associate who had helped us with the Pepsi.

She saw us coming, and called out, “Are you the woman who liked that Pepsi flavor?” Yes, I replied, that’s me. “Oh, good - there’s some in stock right now. The merchandiser from Pepsi is here, putting product on the shelves right now, and I told him how much you liked it.”

Wow. She remembered us two weeks later. Not only that, but not even knowing we were in the store, she talked to the Pepsi merchandiser about the stock levels for that flavor! Then, she even recognized us, and made a point of telling us about it.

Because there was a new special on the Pepsi today, we also made a purchase that we hadn’t planned on when we walked in the door - all because this one associate went the extra mile.

It’s a shame that she wasn’t wearing a name tag, because I’d love to give her specific recognition for a level of customer service you just don’t expect at a discount store - even at Target, who tries to pride itself for not being like the other discount department stores.

You can bet, though, that I’ll try to find a way to identify her to management when I can, and see that they know they have a gem in her.

Posted: October 24th, 2007 under Raves.
Comments: 2