Kindness Keeps Customers Coming Back
As long winded as this entry may appear, there is a moral to the story at the end. I promise. If you want to cut to the chase and scroll to the botom, I won’t judge you or get upset.
I’m not perfect, and I don’t try to portray myself as perfect. Never have. Never will. One of the greatest human flaws we are all guilty of is expecting perfection from others, even though we are well aware of our own imperfections. Despite this, I am still learning the art of compassion and biting my tongue.
I am normally a pretty warm blooded individual, and given the wrong circumstance, I can go from zero to ballistic, pretty quick. I’m not proud of it. One of my favorite movie quotes is from “The Avengers” where Dr. Bruce Banner reveals to Captain America, “That’s my secret, Captain. I’m always angry.” I’m not the Hulk, but like Dr. Banner, I’ve had to learn to control my emotions and how I respond to situations that one might consider unfavorable or stressful. Even Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, was known for being hot tempered. Sometimes, I respond better than others, but I am always striving to improve.
Black Friday
Today was the first Saturday after Black Friday during the 2015 Thanksgiving weekend and I and my wife decided to venture out to into the retail jungle otherwise known as Target in Pasadena on Colorado Blvd.
Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by a huge pop banner that read “Spend $100 on all Christmas home decor and get $50 Back!” If my eyes could salivate, they would have at that moment. I walked over to the nearest Target employee and began to inquire about this amazing discount and, embarrassingly, started thinking of all the ways I could exploit the term “decor” so that I could stretch the discount even further. Another customer overheard my conversation and began to prod further. “Well wouldn’t a sweater be considered decor?” she asked. I found it interesting, that we were thinking the same way.
The Target employee was well prepared for patrons like us and more specifically said, “All the items that this discount would apply to can be found in the northeast department corner of the store. You can’t miss it.” She pointed us in the right direction. Fair enough I thought.
My wife and I walked over to the Christmas Home Decor department which was conveniently located in the BACK of the store, thereby forcing us to walk through countless aisles of retail products, enchanting us every 3-5 feet with discounts, gift ideas, and purchases that we didn’t intend to make or quite frankly-even need.
We were not disappointed once we reached the intended department. I began to mentally stage everything I saw on the shelves inside and outside of my house. There were a few throw pillows that I particularly liked but noticed that they were located just outside the designated area where the discount would apply. I approached an employee who appeared to be restocking shelves and asked her if the items in question would qualify for the promotion. She responded with, “Can you please ask one of the staff members in the next aisle because I’m on break.” She did not appear to be on break. She was arranging items on a shelf. In that moment, I felt she was shrugging me off and passing the responsibility onto someone else. I wanted to respond with a short gruff insult, but I didn’t-at least not loud enough for her to hear.
I made a rude remark under my breath. My wife heard me.
(That’s not my wife in the image) We eventually got what we needed and proceeded to the checkout lines. Remember that under this promotion, for every $100.00 spent in home decor, you get $50.00 back. Now you extreme couponer’s are smart enough to strategically break up your purchases so that the discount can be applied more than once. Me? Not so much. My wife was in the aisles exploring some last minute purchase items while I paid.
The total bill came out to $268.00. This meant that under the terms of the promotion I could have earned $100.00 cash back had I broken up the items into two purchases. I didn’t do that and it wasn’t until my wife returned and pointed out my gaffe that I realized what I had missed. The Target cashier kindly instructed us to go to Customer service to see if they would honor the additional $50.00 that I could have earned.
We end up in Customer Service and are attended to by a young man who reviews the terms and conditions of the promotion line by line before he says he wants to go discuss it with his supervisor. He disappears for 10 minutes only to return with the news that his supervisor had denied request.
Life has taught me that if you don’t get the response you are looking for, you ask a different person, or try a different approach. I asked to speak to the supervisor. The young man behind the Customer Service desk obliged and disappeared again, this time promising to return with his Supervisor.
I grew impatient and decided to start loading the car with our purchases while my wife waited with the receipt for the Supervisor to come.
When I came back from loading the vehicle, I found my wife speaking to the Supervisor who smiled at her and gave her $50.00 cash back. The supervisor was the SAME young woman who had informed me she was on break and couldn’t attend to me, even though she was rearranging products on the shelves. Truth be told, she was indeed on break-she had just decided to work through her break. She told my wife, that she remembered helping us out earlier and that we were “nice.”
Here’s the moral of the story:
You’ll never regret being kind. Treat each person you meet with compassion and kindness-even when they may not deserve it. It’s easier said than done, I know. Had I given into my temptation to mouth off to that young woman (who was a supervisor & decision maker), my wife & I may not have received the compassion we got in the form of a discount. Her simple act of kindness will keep me, my wife, and our family coming back for many years to come and she doesn’t even know it. As an owner of two different brick & mortar real estate companies (REH Real Estate and Lowell & Vanderbilt), a real estate school, and a consultant to a mortgage company, I know firsthand how important it is to demonstrate to the customer or client how valuable they are to your organization. That young lady in Target did just that.