A Kinder, Gentler Holiday Season, Part 2 – with This I Believe

I’m excited to write about the intersection of two of my favorite topics:  customer service and a program at National Public Radio (NPR) that I’ve found inspiring this year called This I Believe.

This I Believe is a revival of a 1950′s radio program  hosted by the esteemed newsman Edward R. Murrow.  He began the program at a time when there was significant turmoil in the United States.  Through the program, people from many walks of life wrote essays about their guiding principles in life, and hoped to help the listeners gain context for many of the pressing issues of the time – the Cold War, McCarthyism, the brewing of racial divide and tension.  In the revival of the program, NPR executive producer Dan Gediman hopes the same can happen in our time.  “The goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, the hope is to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.”, he says.

I’ve been touched by many of the essays – they are on a vast array of topics, but all are thoughtful and inspire some reflection.  I was surprised to get a newsletter yesterday after I published my entry on “A Kinder , Gentler Holiday Season”, that has several essays that focused on the similar topic of customer service and the relationship between staff and customer during this time of the year.

This excerpt from the newsletter has links to a few great essays that I hope you will check out:

From This I Believe Newsletter, dated December 7, 2009

Clerks, Cashiers and Servers

‘Tis the season for dashing through the shopping mall to find the perfect gift, and every item you buy brings an interaction with a store employee. Even during the busy holiday season, the cashiers, clerks, and servers hope you’ll give some thought to who they are and what they believe.

Click the links below for a sampling.

Now That’s Service

A Transaction Between Fellow Citizens

What I Can Change

Follow the link and listen to the podcasts of the essayists – in this case, representative of the many staff you will interact with this holidays shopping season.  Remember to say please and thank you.  You mom will be proud.

P.S.

Check out the link to This I Believe in the right hand navigation “Links” column, or go directly to http://www.thisibelieve.org

There are great holiday gifts there too!  It’s a great cause – I hope you’ll write and contribute your own essay and join the dialogue. Please consider supporting the program as well.

P.P.S.

Here is one of my early favorite essays:

Feeding the Monkeys

Forget the cake and presents. Seattle attorney Harold Taw has his own unique birthday tradition–one prescribed by a Burmese monk. By faithfully following it, Taw believes he’s helped his family to prosper.

“When I was born, a blind Buddhist monk living alone in the Burmese jungle predicted that my birth would bring great prosperity to the family. To ensure this prosperity, I was to feed monkeys on my birthday. While this sounds superstitious, the practice makes karmic sense. On a day normally given over to narcissism, I must consider my family and give nourishment to another living creature. The monk never meant for the ritual to be a burden. In the Burmese jungle, monkeys are as common as pigeons. He probably had to shoo them away from his sticky rice and mangoes. It was only in America that feeding monkeys meant violating the rules.”

Click here to listen to Mr. Taw read his entire essay.

To sign up for the This I Believe podcast and download this audio file, please click here.

 

A Kinder and Gentler Holiday Season

As many of us head towards the holiday season, I’m wondering how that delicate balance of holiday spirit, gift buying stress and end of the year craziness will play out.  Seems that television is full of stories about how people are cutting back on purchases given the economic turmoil of this year.  For some, the abundances of the years prior to 08 put pressure on the tension between the meaning of he season and getting the latest and most exciting stuff.  I’ve just finished Daniel Pink’s book,  “A Whole New Mind”, where he puts forth a case that the abundances of the Information Age are transitioning to a time when a greater focus on meaning is occurring.

Still, gifts are an expression of gratitude, of well wishing during this time of year.  How might that play out in the stores we’ll encounter over the next few weeks?

Past history would remind us of over worked and highly stressed retail staff.  Which surely impact the service and experience we might have as customers.   This can be a make or break time of year for retailers both in sales as well as in customer service and brand image.  Hopefully, they are well prepared.

But here’s a thought for you:  as we think about the swirling cycle of tension created by long lines and pressured service, think also about our role as customers.  And how to be a good customer.

“Pay It Forward” with an extra smile or two.  One for the person serving you.  One for yourself.

Do as your mother taught you, and be sure to say please and thank you.  Take that extra step for good service during this time and let the person and their management know you received good service and appreciate it.  The ripple effect for that service person, the next customer, friends and family welcoming them home after a long day in the store will thank you.

Do a good turn in everyday and unexpected ways.  Pay It Forward.  It will come back to you.  Enjoy!

 

Hot Dog! Part 2

More baseball and hot dogs:

Tiger Stadium’s final demolition will at long last be complete this summer.  Comerica Park is it’s shiny new replacement – and similar to many new parks across the country like the new CitiField for the Mets and the new Yankee Stadium, stadiums are now more commonly  home to a rich wealth of all kinds of food – a lot of it good.  At Comerica, there are the hot dog vendors in the stands and a few coney island hot dog places,  but this is a story about a stand selling Chicago Hot Dogs.

A Chicago hot dog is a unique culinary delight in it’s own right – smothered in relish, hot peppers, onions, ketchup and mustard – a “kitchen sink” kinda thing.  Unique as well is the poppy seed bun that houses this creation! A friend of mine was sure this is what made the dog a delight – when I went to buy it, he said that whatever I got, to be sure to try it with the poppy seed bun.  I eagerly went to order it – “I’ll have a plain hot dog with a poppy seed bun, please”. I got a quizzical look from the guy taking my order.  “You can’t have a plain hot dog with a poppy seed bun – that is for our Chicago Hot Dogs” – I returned an equally quizzical look and asked why not.

“You can only have it with a Chicago Hot Dog.”

“OK, then I’ll have a Chicago Hot Dog, plain.”

“But that’s a plain hot dog – you’ll have to have the plain hot dog bun.”

“But I want the poppy seed bun.”

The guy was looking more exasperated, and I was intrigued.

With a frown, he looked down the line at the woman assembling the hot dogs and explained the situation

“He can’t have that.”, she exclaimed.

The line behind me was building, and while I would normally move on, this was now interesting – the manager intervened to see what the situation was and listened to the replayed dialogue.

“Why can’t I have the poppy seed bun?” I quizzed.

“The poppy seed bun is for the Chicago Hot Dog.”

“I want a Chicago Hot Dog then, with nothing on it.”

“That’s not a Chicago Hot Dog.”

So you can’t make a Chicago Hot Dog without anything on it?

“It will mess up my inventory.”

Stifling a laugh, I smiled and he finally relented, telling the woman to make one up for me.

For some of you, this will remind you of the famous Jack Nicholson scene from Five Easy Pieces http://www.youtube.com/Five Easy Pieces Diner

In the end,  it was a tasty hot dog with poppy seeds – though I have since come to love a true Chicago Hot Dog with all the fixings!

Here’s the important point:

1. Don’t constrain your people with rules that obscure your goal: to make a sale and win a customer.  Especially not for process or inventory concerns.
2. Stay focused on what’s really important – the quality and uniqueness of your product or offering, and the smile you can sell it and serve it with.