I have been on a real bad streak from a customer service standpoint. I already told you about my Customer Experience That Has Steeped Far Too Long. On top of that, the auto dealer I have been working with to have some warranty repairs done has been terrible (I’ll write about that one later). In the midst of a bad streak, it’s only natural to start asking myself, “Am I being too critical? Am I blowing mediocre customer service out of proportion? Am I becoming impatient?”
Enter Cesar, the ultrasound technician from UCSD Hospital in San Diego. How did we meet Cesar you might ask? Well my wife and I are expecting our third child and yesterday was the big day to find out what we’re having. Keep in mind that our original appointment was rescheduled by the hospital and then we sat in the waiting room for about thirty minutes. Needless to say we were eager to see the baby.
When we met Cesar, he immediately apologized for the wait, shook our hands, greeted us with a smile and somewhere in there shared his infectious laugh with us. In an appointment that lasted an hour he did his best to make my wife as comfortable as possible, while he took what must have been fifty pictures of the baby. There were a few things that Cesar did that took his customer service from average to awesome:
1. He revealed his passion for his work. As an ultrasound technician, Cesar has seen countless babies including one set of quadruplets, eight sets of triplets and hundreds of twins. At one point he said “I have been doing this 27 years and each ultrasound is as exciting as the first.” Oh to consistently sustain that kind of attitude and energy in our work.
2. He celebrated with us and encouraged us. When we found out the gender of the baby, he was as excited as we were and celebrated with us. He also went so far as to tell us to keep our marriage strong, believing it is one of the best things we can do for our baby and our family. I have to agree with him on that one.
3. He made it worth our wait. At the end of the appointment he said, “I know you guys have been waiting a long time. Let’s go ahead and do a 3D ultrasound.” We did not once mention anything about the long wait and certainly did not ask for anything extra. It was so wonderful of him to recognize that we had waited and offer that kind gesture.
It was fantastic to witness someone in customer service who loves his job and wants to deliver awesome experiences to his customers. Thank you Cesar for breaking my streak of bad customer service experiences.
Oh by the way– we’re having a boy!
