Good service; Bad service

Hey everyone,

I had the opportunity to have 2 very good examples of good and bad service yesterday. The funny thing was that I was thinking about this very topic as a possible blog entry (well, I was going to talk about people in the east but...this works too).

Scenario 1: Juice dropped off a roll of film to be developed for the one hour development place at 1:05 pm. I went by on my way home to pick it up around 6:30 pm. Edith was at the counter, and there were a 2 people in line in front of me. Now, you know the film counters are often long, and I was standing on one end in full view. Well, Edith looked straight at me, no smile, no nod, no acknowledgment. Well, I suppose there was acknowledgement because she looked right at me but other than eye contact, there was nothing. Nada. 6:45 pm rolls around...still nothing. She's back behind the counter, doing her film-processing thing, and there are now a few more people behind me in line. We're all kind of looking at each other a little bewildered and glancing at Edith (who, by the way, looked like a very fierce hawk, hooked nose and all). Now, the people in front of me didn't seem concerned, so I assumed that she was helping them and will get to me soon.

6:50 pm came, and I considered saying "Hello Edith, some help please?" but I didn't have to. As soon as I opened my mouth, she comes over to the counter with a few packs of pictures and waves to a Hispanic guy lurking in the background. He comes scurrying up to the counter, and the rest of us look a little put out at each other. And he didn't speak English. Edith kept asking him for his membership card, and he kept looking at her blankly. So I pulled out my card and pointed at it and pointed at Edith. He got the idea but didn't have one. At this point Edith looked put out, which I thought was amazing because she didn't look put out when she asked him 5 or 6 times for his card.

Anyway, she went from the Hispanic guy to the ladies in front of me and then to me. I told her I was here to pick up for us, and she asked if I was sure. Um, yes. I'm sure. Is she calling my hubby a liar? Grr... She found my film tacked onto the "to be processed" rack. Not done. Of course. It cleared Juice's name though. :) In any case, she went right into doing it. Oookaaay. Didn't she see the people stacking up behind me? Couldn't she multi-task? In any case, I finally got my film about 7:20 pm, all with the people behind me waiting to be helped as well.

But here's a picture from the roll.

Soot Puppy!

Scenario 2: I went to Subway for dinner after I FINALLY got my film and the customer service was so drastically different. The guy behind the counter was down right friendly. I walked in, walked up to the counter and even though he was helping others, he smiled at me and motioned he'd be with me in one moment. I was amazed at the difference because both Edith and this guy were about the same age (I would say mid to late 40's) but he had such a better attitude about everything. And the sandwiches (one for me, one for Juice when he got home from class) were made to perfection! What a difference it was between Edith and Nice Subway Guy. He made my day and wiped out all the bad vibes I got from Edith.

Just goes to show you how much a smile can mean to a person.

Love you all,
Safire, Juice, and Soot!