Set the Tone with Great Customer Service

I deliver from many different retail locations. I enjoy meeting the employees and managers at each one. As it goes in life no person or business is perfect.
This includes my own. 
Recently I had a pick up at 2 popular restaurants.
Both of them have outstanding food.
​On these 2 occasions a little hiccup in service occurred.

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​    At the first location I had to pick up 2 separate orders. The restaurant has a drive thru window. When the person leaned out and asked the name, I informed him I had 2 orders. He took my debit card and walked it over to the cashier. The cashier looked out and yelled across that I was supposed to come in if I had 2 orders. She did not yell it nice, and I was not sure why she was so upset. I asked the gentleman to get my card back from her and I went and parked and went in the restaurant. She continued to be rude even jerking my card out of my hand and sighing. 

     The next restaurant I went to did not have a drive thru. I went in to pick up my client's order and left. They were pleasant even as they were very busy. When I got the items to my clients 3 things were missing. I went back to the restaurant to pick them up and they apologized and handed me the bag. When I took the items back to my clients, she said it was still something missing. I went back to the restaurant for the 3rd time and the cashier/manager was very apologetic. She comped their meal and even gave me a $10 voucher. She explained how since they moved, they were putting new systems in place and that she was not making excuses and felt really bad about the situation.

Each situation set the tone for the level of service I felt was provided at these locations. I received the food from each location. It was a quality product as described by my clients, but the manner in which it was served affected the experience.

At the first location I called back to inform the manager of the employee's behavior. I was never able to speak with the manager. They were always unavailable.

At the second location the manager made sure to seek me out and speak with me.

The lessons that I took away from these exchanges are...

1) The way that we approach adverse situations in our business can greatly affect the outcome of the customer experience. 
2) Managers need to be accessible to manage customer expectations and employees.
3) One bad employee can taint the experience for customers and possibly affect their patronage to your business.

Every experience is an opportunity to learn.
​I have addressed how I will improve the way I receive and pick up orders for clients to decrease the number of errors I encounter in my business. It pays to pay attention.

Karen, aka "The Delivery Diva"