Hats off for a job well done
Thursday July 24th 2014, 10:44 pm
Filed under: Life

Finished the hats for my sister’s grandtwins and then her daughter-in-law posted pictures on Facebook of the babies wearing outfits she didn’t know would match the hats she doesn’t yet know about. Cool.

And.

The manager called.

I was immediately impressed and could tell why he’s the one that got that job. He apologized, he took responsibility when I told him I hoped Corporate hadn’t come down hard on him when it was something he personally hadn’t done; he brushed that off with making it about me and about my being taken good care of. He was diplomatic towards the employees involved while still making it clear they were accountable for what they do on the job.

I told him they could maybe have been doing work I knew nothing about and couldn’t see.

He countered with making sure I knew his name, his assistant manager’s name, and to ask for them should there ever be a problem again. “You don’t need to stand in that line.”

I told him I’d almost plunked down on the floor at the end of it but for fear of being run over by a cart. I also said they were young and they had no life experience dealing with people who are different, and my case is pretty unique and I knew it.

They were to take care of their customers and if ever they don’t I was to come to him.

And that was clearly important to him personally. He took pride in his store running well for everybody, his customers and his employees both. I could not have asked for a better response. Oh, and re my wondering why on earth they would want hundreds of pounds of contaminated fruit brought back in there, exposing people needlessly?

“Bring the box. Just the box.”

Got it. I like it. The way it should be. Well done, sir.

—————-

 

(Side note: Wait. Having just written that last line–I always feel like I have to go back and explain to Californians just to make sure they know that that’s not snark, that calling someone sir is a mark of respect when you grew up south of the Mason-Dixon line like I did and he very much earned that respect. He was the perfect diplomat: very much in charge but also thoughtful of all others.)


8 Comments so far
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Yes, Costco has a good person in that position!

Comment by LynnM 07.25.14 @ 12:06 am

Love! Costco comes through, once again!
I was really happy with ours and the solution to the missing starter cord for our snow-blower. The manager explained that any outdoor extension cord would work for the electric start and he was really sorry that ours had fallen out of the crate. Since we had gotten the last one, they didn’t have another one to give us, but he would be happy to get a new one for himself and let us have his if we wanted, since it might be hard to find a two-three foot long exterior extension cord. Yep, we were good with using a longer cord we already owned, once I knew what it was supposed to look like.

Comment by Barbara 07.25.14 @ 7:29 am

Costco and California are not alone: my youngest dd lives in Boston and gets a weekly delivery of fresh organic veggies and fruits. They called last week to tell her to throw out any stone fruits because of possible listeria contamination.
Had to laugh at the “sir” story. Same dd went to music camp in NC about 20 ago. A few days after she got there I had a call from the dean of women saying dd was the “rudest child she’d ever met.” This is the same dd that others have told me was “unbelievably considerate for someone her age” [there can be positive aspects of growing up with a mom who has a chronic disease] so I tried to keep the conversation going. It turned out that the problem was that my dd did not say “Yes ma’am” to her. Unfortunately I burst out laughing. I asked the dean to please talk to a faculty member from NH about regional differences. She did not believe me when I said that if my dd said “Yes,ma’am” to me, I know the tone of voice she would have used, and she would have been being fresh.
Carol in MA

Comment by carol telsey 07.25.14 @ 7:46 am

Triple cheer for the positive outcome! 🙂

Thank you for sharing the follow-up with us.

Comment by Suzanne from Montreal 07.25.14 @ 10:23 am

Hooray! I’m so happy for you, and happy that the store is managed by a true, and caring person. When I shopped for my last cell phone, my local Costco didn’t have it, and would only call “one other store,” which didn’t have it either. I headed out to visit my mom and checked the another store, nope. Finally the 4th store had the phone, and the BEST customer service person in their phone area. She set up the phone, and helped me understand all about it. When I wrote a letter to her manager about her exemplary customer service, I got a call and assurances that he would be working with the other stores, that hadn’t demonstrated anything near customer service.

Comment by DebbieR 07.25.14 @ 10:42 am

Whew. I am so very glad to see this follow up to Wednesday’s post. When I saw Wednesday’s last night, I started writing a comment that I (luckily) re-read before “saying” and deleted. It was better that way. I am so glad you got to the manager and that it was handled better. Unfortunately, you still have to go back and take the box but, if there’s a line, you’ll now know to ask for the manager if the staff respond as they did on Wednesday.

Comment by Susan (sjanova) 07.25.14 @ 1:49 pm

Bravo!! I’m so glad for the kind and personal response. And the hats are darling too.

Comment by Channon 07.25.14 @ 4:13 pm

Love the hats. And I’m so glad to learn about the call.

I’ve dealt with angry customers when our company (or a delivery service) has made a mistake. I’m glad for the manager’s sake that you let him apologize. Not that you wouldn’t have, you being you, just that I have memories of customers sounding as though an apology was not enough.

Comment by RobinM 07.26.14 @ 4:25 pm



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