I went to the County Clerk’s office today to turn in a marriage license for a wedding I recently officiated. There are two takeaways in terms of customer service that happened in a span of a few minutes I want to tell you about.
The first was when the guard at the entrance told me I would need to empty my pockets and go through a metal detector. Since it had been many years from my last time in that building, the thought hadn’t occurred to me beforehand that a metal detector would be involved. When I pulled out my pocket knife I always carry and laid it in the basket, he said I would need to take it back to my car or somewhere, that he couldn’t hold it at the desk while I carried out my business. At that moment I wasn’t too happy, but then he immediately said, “There’s a flower pot outside the door. You can hide it in there and then come back in.” I was a bit surprised that he suggested it, but that’s exactly what I did, picking my knife out of the flowers after my business was complete. Thumbs up to the security guard and his unconventional accommodation.
The second experience was in the office for marriage licenses. There was no waiting in line and the lady who immediately got up to help me said, “Would you like to wait for the certificate?” I didn’t expect it to be processed quickly, much less while I waited, but that’s exactly what she did. When she brought me the completed certificate, I thanked her for her speedy, perfect service. Then I nodded to the guard as I exited the building while he took care of others coming in.
People generally are eager to complain about bad service they get, but we rarely talk about excellent service we receive. We should be more mindful to thank the restaurant servers, customer service reps, clerks and others who go above and beyond to make our experiences good ones. They make our days and lives better. They deserve the praise (and tips).
Leap year lesson #182 is Let people know about good service you receive.
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