Those of you who live in the Orlando area, or may have visited, have probably seen or shopped in a Publix. There is one located down the road from where we are staying and when we first entered it there was nothing special about the place as it looked like most supermarkets. What set it apart the first night we visited was when we found that there were no gallons of skim milk on the shelf. We approached an employee working at the seafood counter to ask if there was someone we could talk to that worked in dairy. She said she would call someone and that person appeared almost immediately out of the back to answer our question concerning the pricing of the milk. He said he would check with the manager. He soon came back and said that would be okay and that he would take us to checkout to tell the cashier about the pricing change. We indicated we had a few more items to purchase and instead of disappearing until we needed to head to checkout he took us personally to find our remaining items. I was floored! Never, and I mean never, has a supermarket employee ever given me the Ritz Carlton, "show the customer where things are" treatment. He then ushered us to the check out and told us to have a great night -- and he meant it!
Tonight we needed to get a few more items for tomorrow's Thansgiving dinner. As we were doing so we happened upon the deli area and were admiring the fried chicken, which truly looked delicious in its freshly fried golden brown state. As we were looking an employee walked over to us and asked if there was anything she could do to help us -- and she meant it, too. We said the chicken looked delicious and were it not so late we might be tempted to eat some. She indicated that it was indeed delicious and freshly made an recommended we try it on another visit perhaps.
On the way through the checkout the cashier looked at our purchases and saw that we had a store brand and Ocean Spray jellied cranberry (the goal being to save a bit of money on cranberry and hoped the difference in taste would be negligible). The cashier pointed out that the Ocean Spray was a buy-one get one. I said, "thank you," that was nice of you to bring that to our attention." She said, "I know times are tough and if I can save customers money I will do what I can to help," -- and she meant it!
Needless to say I grabbed the manager who happened to arrive on the scene at our checkout to straighten the shelves nearby and told her we really were impressed with the customer service we have been given by all employees, especially employees like Angela who told us about the cranberry. The manager said with pride, "That is why we hired Angela and people like her." The look on Angela's face suggested we made her night a little brighter, too.
I guess the bottom line is that we can never let our students take the recruitment, selection, and training of employees too lightly, because those are then the people who will become synonymous with the business they will one day own or manage leading to their success or failure. I saw no "warm bodies" filling customer contact positions at Publix; instead I experienced people who were hired because they were built for customer care. I wish I encountered more of the same at the restaurants I have dined in or hotels I have stayed in over the years that, on balance, have provided more bad customer service stories than good ones, and great fodder for underscoring points made during a lecture on how NOT to treat customers. I only hope now that the same is true at the other Publix stores we have driven past on our way from one place to another in the Orlando area. For those who have had a similar experience at Publix please feel free to share them in response to this post.
In the meantime, have a Great Thanksgiving! Time to put the blog down and spend the next four days with friends and family being completely thankful for my many blessings at work and home. I hope you will all do the same.
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