I was the customer I hate - but the clerk was awesome

[Ree]

It was 11:45 on Friday night, and I was heading home from the hospital, which was 45 minutes from home.

I had a camera full of pictures (well, not full, but a lot) and was still about a half hour from home.
I was excited, because they were pictures of my first grandchild.

I had planned to get home and upload them to my computer, but my nephew was driving me, and I knew my sister was dying to see her new little great-niece, and wouldn't be able to see her for another day.

We were passing by a Shopper's Drugs that was open until midnight, and they advertised a photo service.

I know.
15 minutes before closing.

I said, "I'm sorry it's so late, but my first grandchild was born tonight and I have a whole lot of family dying to see her."

Instead of being really pissy, though, the young girl was awesome.
She refilled the paper. Helped me lighten some of the pictures and talked me through it all, and then printed off my pictures.

On a normal day, I could probably have figured it all out on my own, but my head was in a bit of a blur.

It was just after midnight, when we finished, and two other people seemed to be needing to wait for her to close up, and I really felt bad that I was keeping all of them from getting home.

The girl oohed and aahed over the baby, and was absolutely wonderful.

Unfortunately, she wasn't wearing a nametag, and the receipt doesn't identify her, but I do plan on contacting the store to let them know what a great job she did that night. I'm sure they will know who was working that shift, and there is probably some type of ID on the receipt.

[JustaCashier]

I think a note, or call, to the manager and/or Corp is definitely in order here. Hopefully she'll get a nice pat on the back, and some kind of reward if the Company offers such for employees who receive customer commendations, rather than being punished for not wearing a name tag! (J/K) If they don't know right off who she might be, I'm sure they'll be able to figure out by looking back at employee time records.

If you go near this store on a regular basis, and remember what she looks like, I think an in person visit to thank her once again would be a nice touch. Maybe even a nice little thank you card too. If she seemed genuinely smitten by the pics of your grandchild, include a wallet size. (If you still have any left! ) Also, if you can find out if it's not against company policy to accept gifts, some little token thing. Even if it's a cookie. (Seriously!)

This employee, though technically acted as her job would require, went above and beyond in customer service, in my opinion, in the way she treated you, and not giving a weak "that's okay" and equally weak smile, as many of us might do when dealing with a customer that will keep us to who knows how long past closing, even if they were really nice about it.

I know for me, a nice letter form a customer that feels I gave them great service, is almost worth more than any other reward a customer, or the company might give me. I have kept the copies of commendation letters, from customers on previous jobs, along with the usually added "great job!" or "keep up the good work!" note from the boss.

Also, related to my comment above regarding giving her a pic. My last job was at a photo finishing place, where the customers would drop off their film, and we would send it to our lab for processing. Which is good, as I'm red/green colorblind, and was afraid that might be an issue, especially if I was involved with any part of the processing. The woman who was interviewing me, and would late become my supervisor, said "(X) many percent of men are", and I was hired mostly on my customer service experience and skills.

Well, after about a year, or so, they bring a digital photo station into the store, and we were now doing, on site, digital reprints, restorations and red eye correction! Fortunately, my coworker helped me out with the red eye (or I'd just admit to the customer my colorblindness, and ask them if "this was okay" if they were waiting for their prints. I also don't have a good eye for detail, so I'd struggle on some of the restos, but my coworker was excellent in helping with that also.

Anyway, fast forward a few years, and a fairly regular customer comes in with several photos she had taken. These were mostly nature type, taken along old country roads etc. She was contemplating getting into selling her own photos as greeting cards. She kept asking my "expert" advice on touching up and lightening/darkening and such, and I kept throwing in the caveat that I was far from expert, and we just kind of worked together on it. She ended up being thrilled with the results of "my skills".

Although she was happy with the way the corrected pics turned out, she was still apprehensive of going the next step in selling them. I kept reassuring her that they were great images, (they truly were) and though I understood her apprehension, she should go for it.

Fast forward a few more years to when the I had been laid off from the previous job due to them dissolvong their remaning retail locations, and I'm at my cuurent job in a totally unrelated business. She came in one time, and came through my line, and upon finding out I worked their, brought in two packs of those photos, along with envelopes, in a plastic print wallet on her next visit. She was selling her photos! She said one was for me, and the other for my former co-worker the next time I saw her, in thanks for all the help we'd given her at the photo place.

The pics were as great as I remember, including my favorite of a nice looking 1940's hotrod, parked in the from yard of an old farm. There's no way I'm mailing these off to anyone. I treasure them not only because they are such nice photos, but also because she was thoughtful enough to give them to me. If I want to send some off, I'll buy them from her!

[Ree]

I don't go there regularly, as it's in a town about 30 minutes away.
Unfortunately, there is no obstetrics unit in our town, so my daughter had to go to a different hospital that's 45 minutes away.

We were going back to visit her today, and I needed to pick up a cough suppressant of some type, as I didn't want to be around the baby with a cough.

I saw a girl who looked like a possible manager, but it was difficult to read her tag, because she was bent down stocking a shelf.

I went up to her and asked if there was a manager on duty.
She said there was, and asked if she could relay a message to him, so I told her my story.

I said, "I work retail, and I know how rare it is to get positive feedback, but I also know how great it is when it does happen."
It turned out that, while she wasn't the store manager, she just happened to be that department manager, and was the girl's supervisor.
She checked the schedule to find out the girl's name, and just as she went away, I realized I still had the receipt in my purse.

When she came back, I showed it to her, and she checked the employee ID and it was the girl that she thought it was.

She thanked me for the feedback, and promised to pass on the message to the girl. She had already told the manager when she had gone to check the schedule.

I was glad I decided to speak up.

She says there is a number on the back of the receipt for the corporate offices, to call anytime to give them feedback, so I may do that, too, now that I know the girl's first name.