I had been looking for a specific gift for a family member over the weekend, and had some great customer experiences and poor ones during my travels.

Near the end of my travels, I arrived at the Canadian Tire in St. Albert, Alberta. The first guy I ran into wasn’t terribly rude, but was a little less than helpful.

I asked him if he knew where I might find the certain item in the store – he replied that he didn’t know where the section for those items were even though this store certainly carries those items, and so after an ackward pause, I asked, “do you know perhaps who in the store may know?” – his reply, “not really”.

I said, more in a ‘surprised with his dis-interest’ voice, “I guess I’ll just walk around until I find another employee with a company shirt on and ask them?”

He noted, “probably the best approach to take, because I don’t know where those items are”

WOW, is all I have to say.

And so, I was considering leaving the store all together, disheartenend once again by a poor customer experience, but for some reason decided to try and find the department. The person in Customer Service directed me to the department with a smile on their face, and my day was finally looking up!

I arrived at the department and was greeted by Brook’s smiling face. The item I was looking for wasn’t there, and so I inquired with her.

To make a long story short, to help me in my hunt, she looked up the inventory at all the other stores in the city, called the store manager, looked through the inventory in her department, and when she finally discovered they were out of said item, suggested places nearby that may have some, and even gave me directions to the other stores.

I thanked her and immediately made my way to customer service to fill out a comment card in her favor. Did I mention the fact that they didn’t have the item, and I actually filled out a comment card, or that Brook (and sorry if my age guessing skills are far off) was in her teens in my estimation (I’d say 19 at most but maybe 18 or 17)?

I mean many people complain that teens don’t get it when my experience far too often say’s otherwise. Yes, there are some bad apples and the reliance on social media, texting, and technology may be hindering a generations ability to serve with interest, but there are still many good apples out there as well.

So, in a nutshell, thanks so much Brook for Serving With Excellence yesterday, you are making a difference!

Until next time, yours in Success,

Corey Poirier

http://www.coreypoirier.com