Simply Simple Customer Service
A grocery bagger made a big hit with a simple idea.
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PrintCustomer service -- could you be over complicating it? If you think so, then consider the story of a grocery store bagger named Johnny. His story so intrigued speaker and author Barbara Glanz that she copyrighted it. It is used here, with her permission.
Johnny's story goes like this: Glanz made a customer service presentation to a supermarket chain, suggesting to employees that they should make customers feel special.
Following the presentation, 19-year-old Johnny called her to say that, initially, he figured he couldn't do anything special for customers since he was just a bagger.
Then he had a idea. Every night when he got home from work, he either found or made up a "Thought for the Day." With his dad's help -- Johnny has Down Syndrome -- he put these "Thoughts" into a computer and printed out multiple copies, signing his name on the back of each one.
Back at the store, when Johnny finished bagging a customer's groceries, he dropped his "Thought for the Day" into the bag and thanked the person for shopping at his store.
The line at Johnny's register grew longer and longer. Even when the store manager added cashiers, customers remained in Johnny's line. They wanted his "Thought for the Day."
Johnny's success gave floral department employees an idea. They began saving flowers with broken stems, then pinning them to the lapels of elderly customers. And, says the store manager, customers return (one woman comes daily) just to receive Johnny's "Thought."
