Customer Service Rule #23:
Satisfy the customer in front of you. Period.
I wasn’t sure if I should have been inspired by this gentleman’s attention to detail and devotion to his customer or completely aghast. The other day I finish a shoot early and figure a quick stop by the main post office would be great seeing I was in the area. Had a project CD to mail out and I had neither the 39 cent envelope nor a buck’s postage on me. There’s a good 14 people in front of me in line, but I’m not worried. It’s been a good day and I don’t mind being patient. It’s close to the holidays after all – I’m sure these folks are getting busy.
There are only two people working the counter – odd for the time of day and number of people waiting, but whatever. Within a few minutes I’m finally inside the door and out of the chill. Life is still good people!
Then an older gentleman with THE BOX steps up to the counter. It’s a small box, perhaps a foot square, wrapped in Postal Service tape. I’m not sure exactly what is being said, but the customer is getting agitated at what he’s hearing. Something about the box can’t be wrapped this way – has to be wrapped with paper tape. Well I didn’t know that blah blah blah. I hear ya buddy – there’s a zillion rules and regs for everything nowadays. Well fortunately for this customer, Mr U.S. Postal Service Employee dutifully employs Customer Service Rule #23: Satisfy the customer in front of you. Period.
The wrapping of THE BOX in paper tape has begun. And what a grand odyssey! I timed this little exercise in customer service folks – it took TWENTY-TWO MINUTES. And in all that time there were still only two people behind the counter. Correction, I mean working with CUSTOMERS behind the counter. There were lots of uniformed individuals milling about back there. That left one person to service what grew to a line of FORTY-THREE PEOPLE (yes, I counted). Countless people just threw up their hands and walked out. I can’t imagine how much that might irk other businesses not so focused on silly Customer Service rules.
All of us in line could only look at each other with complete incredulity. It was a shared experience unrivaled. We formed friendships that day and a support group to see us through after. THE BOX still haunts many of us. Paper tape… paper tape… paper tape… All in all I spent FORTY-FOUR minutes in line at the post office to pay for the 39 cent envelope I unfortunately grabbed and wrote on at the beginning of my adventure. But what the hell - it gave me a laugh, made me some friends, and taught me a valuable lesson in customer service.
It was still a good day.