once upon a time...a tale from the serenitynerd vaults
#vulcan-quer and f#fancythedancy were talking about how working customer service is terrifying, and i can second that for sure. But it also got me to thinking about a kind of cool customer service experience I had once upon a time.... I was in my late teens working at a fast food chain. It was winter in a province that regularly got snow up to your eyeballs, and our manager was very cranky pants about kids just coming in to get warm and not buying anything, even if it was slow. So one afternoon I was trying to fix the hot chocolate machine and ended up making cup after cup till I sorted it. And there they were, not perfect but still tasty and warm, going to waste. And at the table farthest from the cash, trying to look inconspicuous, were a half a dozen early/mid-teens framed against a very blustery frigid snow window, who clearly didn't have the cash to get anything. So I thought what the heck. The manager wasn't near me, and if anyone tried to give me grief I could say I was just making sure the hot chocolate didn't go to waste; so I brought them a tray full of hot cocoa, gratis. They seemed delighted, which was lovely, but after they left I really thought no more about it. Later that day we got slammed and suddenly I look up from the endless line of the hungry horde to find one of hot cocoa kids standing there looking awkward and uncertain. He handed me a foot long clear baton-like stick filled with water and sparkley glitter, definitely pre-loved, mumbled thanks, and fled. I suddenly realized he had waited in that eternal queue just to give me a gift. I never saw him again. But it was just the sweetest, most unexpected token of appreciation ever. 20 some odd years later I still have it, and it still makes me smile and tear up a bit. So, sometimes customer service can be pretty awesome.
