Customer Satisfaction: I was Starving, but I Walked out Anyway!

I have a story to tell you, and I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!

You know by now I am all about looking for lessons within my daily experiences and life circumstances to create a better life and business for myself and for the amazing clients I coach.

So here is another such happening.

I got up early this morning, and instead of having a healthy breakfast like I normally do (such as eggs with lots of spinach), I rushed out of the house for a meeting WHILE on the phone with another meeting!

By 20 minutes before 11am I was famished. I had this weird CRAVING for a fajita soft taco (I know, it’s odd)!

So I walked into a local Taco Cabana. As I entered, the place was empty. No one else was at the counter or the drive through. A lady who looked painfully unhappy with her life stood just a few feet from me in the food prep area, sporting thin white rubber gloves and sharpening a knife as she looked right at me and then quickly turned her eyes away (so she could pretend she did not see me). I waited patiently for at least a minute as she “let me know who was boss” by not waiting on me right away. She finally came over, gloves and all, to take my order, with an “I could really care less about you” look on her face.

I told her what I wanted, and without a personality, smile, or “give a damn”, she went on to press the buttons on the register while wearing the “multi-purpose” gloves! I calmly and politely said, “Never mind, since you didn’t even take your gloves off”, and then I walked out (customer LOST). I was starving, but I walked out anyway! (In case you are not following me here, she was prepared to touch a dirty cash register, handle money, and go on to prepare my food with those same dirty gloves, instead of removing them to take the order, and putting on a new pair before she made the food. Cash and food prep do not mix, and what I saw made me question what else she had done with those same gloves).

You know me! I am a nice gal. I am helpful and kind. I am not looking for problems. I am supportive, but I am no idiot (and NO, I am not a germophobe)! Now, if I had been on the mission field and was served raunchy food, I’d eat it with a smile and a thank you, but that’s not the case today. Today I am PAYING for a PRODUCT with the money I EARNED! I want you to HEAR what I am saying because you will learn something about YOUR business AND about your CLIENTS if you do.

So the story continues. As I head to my car, I still have the raging hunger and the God-forsaken craving for a fajita taco. It is so strong I MUST obey!  So I head to a chain restaurant called Casa Ole’ (which is located in the mall). I figured I could get a little work done and sit down to my taco.

I enter Casa Ole’ through the side “public” entrance. It is now 4 minutes until 11 and once inside I see that I am THE FIRST customer of the day, and that the restaurant gate (door) that faces the mall entrance is still locked! So the hostess unlocked the doors then sat me at my table.

Immediately after I was seated I set my things down and got up to use the restroom. Inside, I went from stall to stall to stall (3 in all) looking for a toilet that did not have bright yellow urine and accompanying used T.P. in it. It did not happen. They were all beaming with filth. I flushed with my foot and without sitting down did what I came to do, then washed my hands (thank God someone does) and left to go ask to speak with the manager.

She came to my table and half-way listened as I politely told her my concern that there were NO customers in the store before me, so dirty bathrooms were just inexcusable. As quickly as you can say “gross”, and before I finished talking, she began to defend herself as if this were about HER), saying that some of the workers simply used the rest room before the store opened (OH, that makes me feel WAAAYYYYY better knowing that you didn’t leave filth from the night before, that it is just that at least 3 of your workers have no hygiene, and are not clean enough or aware enough to flush the toilets).

She rambled on in a nonchalant fashion as if restaurant filth was normal, and I asked her if she could understand my concern that if her workers were not grown up enough to flush the toilets, then it is likely they are not washing their hands, which means they are serving food and cooking food with dirty hands. It was like pulling teeth to get her to take responsibility, so I politely left. I was starving, but I walked out anyway!

I finally settled on the drive thought at Taco Bell as a last resort!

If you go back through this story, you will see SO MANY things on so many levels that were wrong with the service I received, and the problems came from workers AND management. There are scores of lessons here to be learned about why people buy, what makes them change their minds, and what they expect when they PAY for a product or service.

At the very least they expect the very least. They expect what any reasonable person would expect to expect. Today though, they also expect a little more. A little more friendliness, a little more courtesy, a little more cleanliness, a little more “I am so glad you are my customer”, because there are so many other places the customer can go. Today, at the absolute minimum a business owner MUST cover the basics or they don’t stand a chance of even surviving for very long, and if by some chance they do, profits will be minimal. To THRIVE into the future, a business MUST be fabulous and DEMONSTRATE sincere appreciation for each and every customer at every station of the sale.

The title of this story is worth repeating: I was starving, but I walked out anyway! I had a craving (desire), I was hungry (pain), I had money (the means), I had the time (access), and I went to the place that served the type of food I wanted to order (niche opportunity). All of the necessary components were there on my end to buy, yet I LEFT without the PRODUCT even though I had ALREADY made the DECISION to buy before I got to either place.

A few more takeaways for YOU no matter your industry:

•Be happy to see your customer even if you have to fake it at first.

•Take your “gloves” off at the appropriate time (your gloves can be your defensive attitude, your “uppity” demeanor, your 8 layers of customer avoidance, or your “system” that does not “fit” the circumstance. YOU figure out what your gloves are).

•Flush your toilets and wash your hands. Symbolic of course for training your staff to function from the same mission you wrote down one day when you were on a roll (no pun intended).

•As a leader, (manager, business owner) LISTEN to your clients without defensiveness. Listen without thinking (as the client is talking) of the excuses you will make.
Listen with an attitude that a customer concern is a HUGE opportunity.
Listen attentively, since someone is right in front of you telling you how to improve in a way your customers want you to (talk about targeted information).

That’s it, and that’s a big mouth full (as big as a Texas fajita). Take the lessons to heart and serve that STARVING client while being the BEST at what you do.

Margo