Customer Service

I was at Home Depot over the weekend purchasing some items for my usual weekend projects. The young woman waiting on me at the cash register was talking on her cell phone as opposed to providing me with customer service. When her supervisor admonished her to hang the phone up she became very disgruntled. In my usual style I asked her why she was on her phone when she was in a position to provide customer service. I also reminded her how difficult it was to get and hold a job these days –to her credit she thanked me and told me to have a good day (uh-huh).

The same day I was shopping at Publix and the check out lines were all backed up so the manager called available personnel to bag. My “bagger” was the Meat Manager. After I did a double take he very enthusiastically bagged my groceries and then took them to my car. Our conversation centered on the “new” Publix culture of doing what ever it takes to bring customers back because, he said, Publix had been loosing customers to Sam's and Krogers and they decided that if they couldn’t compete on price they would compete on SERVICE.

What a contrast with respect to SERVICE and understanding the value of customers. Which example best fits your approach to our customer?