Here’s a great story about a customer service employee doing something right by doing something ‘wrong’ – he refused to serve a customer!
What’s even more interesting is that he has had lots and lots of rewards and recognition for doing so!
Minnesota Dairy Queen employee, Joey Prusak saw one of his visually impaired customers drop a $20 note but not notice he had done so. Before he could tell him, Joey saw another customer pick up the money and put it in her purse!
When it was her turn to get served, 19 year old Joey asked her to return the money, but she said no, so then he did something that isn’t I suspect is not in the Dairy Queen customer service staff handbook. He refused to serve her and said…
“Please return the $20 or get out of the store, because I’m not going to serve someone as disrespectful as you”
She then stormed out of the store, but Joey didn’t stop there! He went up to his regular customer who was still unaware that he’d lost the money, and gave him $20 out of his own pocket!
Joey’s ‘good deed’ may have well gone unnoticed if it wasn’t for a customer who observed the whole thing and was moved enough by it to write an email to Diary Queen’s head office! The email was forwarded to store owner Dave Pettit, who gave Joey $40, along with a nice note. Another employee took a picture of the email, which ended up going viral!
The result has been lots of phone calls congratulating the teenager on his kind gesture and lots of people actually coming to see Joey in the store. Some have apparently offered him jobs and donated money for his college fund! He says he’s giving the money to charity. Someone else even offered to buy a Dairy Queen outlet for Joey to manage!
Oh, and he also got a phone call from quite an important person – one Warren Buffet, the chairman, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, of which Dairy Queen International is a subsidiary. Buffet himself called Joey to congratulate him for doing the right thing!
John Gainor, CEO of Dairy Queen, is just one of many people who sang Joey’s praises, “I think what Joey’s actions did was put smiles on the faces of a lot of people, not only our customers but as we’re hearing, people around the world,”
Joey himself has been very coy about it all. “I didn’t expect it to go anywhere. I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t tell my boss. I didn’t even tell my own parents,” he said. “A lot of people are saying ‘thank you’ for what I did. Just telling me that means a lot.”
It’s a great example of the power of doing a good thing – even if it does ‘break the rules’! The result has been lots of good news being spread by word of mouth and word of mouse, and apparently lots of customers, old and new, popping buy to reward Joey’s good deeds!
So, go on, do a good deed today – and encourage others to do so too!
