I had a post ready to publish today. But, after a conversation I had last night, I thought it more important to share this story with you. Forgive me in advance for my writing as this one is from the gut.
Assuming you didn’t see my tweets yesterday and today, I shared some information about the aftermath from the rainstorms in New England this week. I grew up in Rhode Island and my family and many friends live there today. As I have been getting more information, the extend of the devastation and impact on peoples’ lives is making my head spin and my heart break. I’ve followed, like we have all, the tragic events in New Orleans, Haiti and other locations around the world. But, I guess it’s true that tragedies doesn’t quite resonate until it happens to you.
This time, it did. My parents, after 50 plus years in the only home they ever owned, were forced out due to rising flood waters. The house can be saved, but they’re lives, in the form of photos, mementos and the various collection of stuff, has suffered a mortal blow. I’m giving you this information just to set the stage to say “thank you” to the folks at Boston Market in Cranston.
As my family is trying to get our heads around what’s next, my father just wanted some chicken for dinner. Hey, we’re pretty simple folks. So, my sister went to pick it up for him, after carrying the burden of the past week and putting the family on her back as I am not local. She walked into the store only to be told they were completely sold out. At that, my sister finally broke down. Seeing her in distress, the manager of the store immediately went to work to find a solution. He did. He found the food and delivered the order as requested and refused to accept payment.
Maybe we spend too much time talking about technology, strategy, process, training, employee profiling and data as the tools to understanding customers and delivering a superior customer experience. Perhaps, we’re missing the point. The burning desire to serve others; to provide an experience that connects with customers at a deep emotional level requires the service deliverer to give a part of themselves. Maybe the art of service can’t be analyzed, taught or improved upon. Perhaps its just ingrained in some. Perhaps its in their DNA.
