There was a book I loved about a nice old man who owned the corner ice cream shop. He would always weigh out nuts and candy for his customer and then add a few more in, just to be nice. He would always scoop a small scoop of ice cream inside the cone, then put a bigger scoop, with ruffly edges on top of the cone.
One day the old man got sick. His nephew, who knew all about new fangled business practices, came to take over. He would carefully weigh out nuts and candy, but would take a few away as he poured them in a bag. He would scoop a small scoop of ice cream inside the cone, then hand it to the waiting customer without adding the bigger scoop with the ruffly edges.
Business at the shop got worse and the young man couldn't understand it until his uncle explained about taking care of the customer. The nephew changed his business practices and sales picked up.
Unfortunately, business in America has not followed this trend. I'm so tired of going into the big box stores who never have what I'm looking for. I went to two huge national chain stores this week looking for help changing the tint of some paint I have. I didn't even find anyone who would try to help me.
So, I headed to the neighborhood hardware store, where I met Rob. As if he didn't have anything better to do, he listened to my question. He then took the time to match the color of paint I already have, then look up how to change it to the shade I want. He probably spent half an hour mixing pigments and testing to see if he'd reached the right shade. He even pulled out a hair dryer to dry the sample and show us what color it was.
Total cost: $1
Discovering a bit of small town America in the middle of strip-mall-land: Priceless
2 comments:
I love stores that are into customer service! I worked at a True Value Hardware store for four summers during college. It was all about customer service...and our department heads were experts. So glad you found that treasure!
Don's Pharamacy in Port Townsend is a little jewel. At any given time you can walk in there with a prescription to fill and 5-10 minutes later walk out with it filled. I long ago learned that Safeway was not the place to go. Don is such a good and kind man, he truly cares about people and has employees who also care. It is a little place I love. They also have a soda fountain/restraurant tucked back in one corner of the store. They have the best milkshakes, and their sundaes are HUGE. One sundae would be enough for a whole family.
Just a little place that offers something that those "others" can't!!
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