Friday, October 08, 2004
Shopping for Service
By T. Yuen
In August I took Anna (my 13 year old granddaughter) to Pearlridge Shopping Center (Aiea, Hawai'i) for a day of shopping. We decided to rate the service of each store at which we made purchases. Service was rated thus: Very nice, So-so, and Awful. Of the 8 stores we visited, 2 were Very nice...sales personnel were genuinely gracious and accommodating. Five stores were So-so...personnel were doing their jobs and could care less about going the extra step to make us feel valued as customers. The worst service, Awful...was at a fast food place in the food court. The people were totally rude and uncaring. Although we experienced only two of the eight stores with Very nice rating we felt very fortunate that indeed we had dealt with some very nice people. Accentuate the positive!
On that same shopping trip, I was lined up to pay for my purchases at GAP. The total came to a little over $100.00. Before I could make the transaction, a woman standing behind me gave me a GAP coupon for a $20.00 discount for purchases of $100.00 or more. I asked her "Don't you want to use it?" She said she never spends that much at one time. After giving me the coupon, she simply walked away. Apparently, she was just waiting to give away the coupon, and Anna and I were fortunate to have been there at the right time. This stranger made us very happy! So Nice!
In August I took Anna (my 13 year old granddaughter) to Pearlridge Shopping Center (Aiea, Hawai'i) for a day of shopping. We decided to rate the service of each store at which we made purchases. Service was rated thus: Very nice, So-so, and Awful. Of the 8 stores we visited, 2 were Very nice...sales personnel were genuinely gracious and accommodating. Five stores were So-so...personnel were doing their jobs and could care less about going the extra step to make us feel valued as customers. The worst service, Awful...was at a fast food place in the food court. The people were totally rude and uncaring. Although we experienced only two of the eight stores with Very nice rating we felt very fortunate that indeed we had dealt with some very nice people. Accentuate the positive!
On that same shopping trip, I was lined up to pay for my purchases at GAP. The total came to a little over $100.00. Before I could make the transaction, a woman standing behind me gave me a GAP coupon for a $20.00 discount for purchases of $100.00 or more. I asked her "Don't you want to use it?" She said she never spends that much at one time. After giving me the coupon, she simply walked away. Apparently, she was just waiting to give away the coupon, and Anna and I were fortunate to have been there at the right time. This stranger made us very happy! So Nice!
