Sometimes customer service has nothing to do with what you are selling. Let me tell you a story…

On Saturday morning my husband and I popped over to our local Fresh Market to grab a few things, a quick trip. As we walked across the parking lot my husband dropped the car keys (and house keys) and as we both watched they fell into a large (and deep) storm drain. It was one of those moments where you don’t quite believe what just happened. I laughed (after all it was my husband that dropped the keys, not me) and then it dawned on me that we were stuck. Of course there were people we knew around – we all looked in the drain and heads were shaken. I, of course, tweeted for help and many suggestions came flooding (pun intended) in. I didn’t know the number for Public Works so I texted the Mayor* (yes I’m embarrassed).

Seven minutes later we came to a new realization. It didn’t really matter. We could call a friend to get us, break into our house and grab spare keys and come back and get the car. No big deal at all. Inconvenient but not the end of the world. And remember here (the most important thing) It wasn’t MY fault 🙂

I called a good friend (thanks Silvia) and we went into the store. It just so happened that the Store Manager (a dashing plain clothes superhero called Lucien) passed us and asked if we were having a good day. I was probably still grinning. In my usual English way I nearly replied “Yes, thank you” but instead I said (through my smile) “Actually we just dropped our car keys in the drain outside”.

Lucien swung into action. Long wires appeared with hooks on the end and the keys were swiftly located and retrieved. He was humble and sweet the whole time.

Now this is customer service. It’s not about selling, or teaching your staff to ask ‘if you need help finding anything’ – it’s about going the extra mile. Even if that mile involves drains and 6ft hooks. Thank you Lucien, and The Fresh Market – you guys rock!

*and thank you to our Mayor for texting me back a number of times and not teasing me about this in the future.