A few weeks ago I made a purchase at a local department store. The sales clerk was absolutely wonderful. She went above and beyond the call of duty – even to the point that when I mentioned the item I was buying (which was a bit of a splurge) was a birthday gift from me to me – she called over another clerk and they sang Happy Birthday to me – she even had other customers join in. She also gave me several bonus gifts that she had available. The next day I called the HR department of the store. When I said that I wanted to talk about a particular clerk in the cosmetic department, I immediately sensed a change in the tone of her voice as I am quite sure she believed she would hear a complaint. I proceded to tell her of my wonderful experience in the store. The HR person couldn’t believe her ears. She told me that nobody ever calls to commend a staff member, just to complain and that this was a pleasant surprise. She assured me that the clerk in question would be told how pleased I was with her service.
I have done this several times over the years because I always find the few minutes that it takes to phone when I have a complaint, so why not find a few minutes to express satisfaction. I firmly believe that if more people did this, shopping (or dealing with any service industry) would be a far more pleasant experience.