We went plant-shopping this week. It seems that the garden store offers free replanting of your chosen plant into a pot of your choosing and then finishes it off with some decorative bark or stones to hold in moisture. It's a nice touch and more than enough people inside the store were willing to fall all over themselves to make our experience exceptional - except the cashiers.
While wrestling with our newly potted plant (almost 3 feet in height) through the cash lane, we inadvertently left our box of plant food on the check-out counter in clear view of the two cashiers - both teen'ish. Since it was a slow time of the day, no one was in line behind us. We pushed our cart across twenty feet of shop floor before we reached the door, continued into the parking lot where we took a few minutes to offload the plant into the truck and secure it. A lot attendant came up and offered to take our cart away, placing a 25 cent piece with us as our cart still had our quarter. We then drove away only to have to return when we realized we left the plant food behind. Back at the store, we found the two cashiers sitting up on the counter beside our box of plant food doing much of nothing.
Walking our forgotten purchase out to us could have been the icing on the cake of an exceptional service day. But sadly, all of the hard work of the rest of the staff was negated in a single "meh" moment (meh - a term indicating apathy or indifference to a situation - used mostly by Gen Y and younger). Still, we are likely to return to shop there again because the rest of the staff were attentive and helpful.
In the meantime, I have sent the store an email outlining my experience as I have told it to you. Why? Because it's Filter-Free Friday™, that's why.
Filter-Free Friday™ is the day you get to turn off the filters that prevent you from speaking up when you feel you could have been served better or when you feel someone needs a round of applause. Today is the day you craft letters or emails of face-to-face communication that tells the truth to a person or a business who you feel needs to hear the truth. Pretend you are being called upon to give evidence at a trial and tell your story without emotion and without blame. Just the facts and perhaps your impression of how the situation could have been better handled. Then, once you have "made the world a better place" (wink), you can rest easy knowing that your concerns and ideas have been heard and that the experience for others that follow will be better.
It's Filter-Free Friday™. So who could stand to hear the truth today?
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Kevin Burns - Corporate Attitude/Culture Strategist
Speaking Web Site http://www.kevburns.com
Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™
Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Creating An Oasis of Greatness In A Wasteland of Mediocrity
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