Thursday, January 28, 2010

Week 3 EOC Best Service Ever

Picking one time in which I had great customer service is a little hard because there has been more than. If I had to pick just one, I believe the most memorable one to me was when I was in the Army in Alaska. I was stationed outside of a little town called Delta Junction that comprised of a multi-purpose store, a sit down restaurant and bar, a gas station, a drive up restaurant and a grocery store. I truly believe that this town only existed because it was on the verge of the two major highways that run the length of the interior. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the little drive up restaurant but I will never forget the service I got there not just once, but every time I stopped by. My trips to this restaurant were to the point that I was paying multiple times more than the food was worth the simple fact that I was so happy with the service. To look at, it was nothing special. What you would call a “Mom and Pop store” where it was family owned and operated, the father cooked, the mother worked the cash register and drinks, and the wait staff were the children and friends of the children. The term child I use loosely as it only refers to the fact that they were the offspring of the owner/operators of the business. They were all teenage and above. At any rate, my first impression was I was going to get a home style version of McDonalds that took twice as long to make and probably tasted half as good. Instead, what I received was one of the best burgers I have ever had. I waited a little over a minute in my vehicle before someone was at my window asking if I needed anything and when I asked for more time they merrily met my request with smiles and nods and bounded back to their waiting spot. This place was not incredibly busy being in a speck of a town in the middle of nowhere and yet they jumped into action as though there was a line of cars waiting to pull in. It was not hard to catch the eye of my waitress and she happily came to my car window again wearing a huge smile and full of energy as she took my order. I was right about having to wait but I didn’t mind in the least because while I was waiting my friendly waitress was at my window conversing with me as though I was a long lost friend and we had known each other for an eternity. When my food was ready she sped off to retrieve it and brought it back again with a huge smile on her face and bade me to enjoy it as she slipped off to help another customer that had pulled up. She came back to check on me several times to see if I need anything else, how I liked the food, could she get me a refill on my drink and every time with that same pleasant smile. When I had finished my lunch she brought me my bill and ran off to get my change. She impressed me so much that I when she came back I gave her the biggest tip I had ever left anyone. I continued to stop at that restaurant every time I passed for as long as I lived in Alaska and the service never wavered, not even when it was raining and cold.