A while ago when my dear friend Chaslyn's mother was visiting we all went out to dinner at a place called Equinox in the Northeast part of town. The food was good (slightly overpriced), the drinks were fantastic, service so-so. We were the last group in the place, not really by choice, but rather because we were waiting for our server to pick up our money/cards so we could pay and leave. We waited and waited and finally I took the cards and pile of money to the bar. As I approached this rather exuberant guy says to the woman who is reaching for the money, "WOW! It's her!! She is the best person to buy clogs from! She is really good at her job!!!" I looked at him and tried to remember him, as I am want to do with customers. Blank. Mind absolutely blank.
Two minutes ago that rather exuberant guy walked into my store as I was putting a spoonful of soup in my mouth. I recognize him as the man behind the bar that night with the friends. He says, "HI!" as he enters the store. I try to say hello back, but it's hard with bean and corn soup so I wave instead. He tells me he's got the waiter skills of asking questions as people are just taking a bite to eat. I told him I was impressed with his skills because he wasn't at work this time, I was.
Oh, I found our server that night. She had retreated to the other dining room to eat dinner herself. Um, word of advice to her: If you still have a table that you have just dropped the bill off with, don't go get your dinner and forget about us. We'd like to leave so you all can go home...
7 comments:
Don't you just love it when customers remember you?
There are times I love being recognized, others when I want to crawl under a rock. :) Actually, it really warms my heart when they walk into the store saying my name.
It's got to be nice to have a job where people really recognize how you go out of your way to make their shopping experience pleasant AND they appreciate it.
It is quite nice, Bekah. That night at the restaurant freaked me out a bit, because he would not stop going on and on. :)
But then I've walked into places and have heard people saying, "Look! It's her!" Only to turn around and realize they were talking about me...I am known as the "clog girl" around Portland. LOL
I understand not wanting to be recognized... The coffee shop that I work in is located in a very close knit community where I also live. Most of the time I can't walk my dog without getting into conversations with half a dozen people. It's kind of nice to see that heart there, but at the same it when I want my alone time, I really want my alone time.
It's bittersweet, but still to be appreciated.
i have customers who, from over 10 years ago now, remember me selling them a computer on the retail floor of COMPUTER CITY... oh yesh, wifee and I met there too. she was the hot customer service lead, and I was the equally (potentially more?) hot-shit sales person jes' working that floor!
guess the impression i left behind on some of those customers was pretty good... even tho i was telling them at that point that a pentium 75mhz PC with 24mb of RAM would be ALL they'd need for the years to come...
giggle.
I had a former student stop in at lunch time on Sunday while I was in the classroom. I recognized him, but had to ask his name. In my own defense, I have been learning the names of students since 2000. I usually have 8-10 classes a year with an average of 300 people for each class. I always tell them that if I see them the next week it will seem as though I've known them all of my life, but I will probably not remember their name. I will usually just say, "Give me a name."
The strange thing is that I almost always remember something else about them. That happened with Jim. I couldn't remember his name but did remember he was in marketing.
Memory is a wonderfully funny thing. Life is partially about relationships.
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