Stories of Customer Service

One of the best things that have come out of working in customer service is the stories that I got from dealing with customers and my coworkers. I have compiled some of the best memories that I have with them over social media, however, I think writing them out might help keep them preserved for revisiting.

Names have been changed.

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The one moment that I love to tell everyone comes from a store full of managers at the time. We were on the 3rd shift; about 1a to 9a at this particular store. One of the managers – we’ll call him Dan – was on back cash at the pay here window. It was around 4 am and we were switching over to cash only – a time where we restart the system for the day (it happens everywhere; takes about 15 to 30 minutes, quit complaining). We were slow, so Dan went to the maintenance out cove to fill up the mop bucket. The beep went off in the headsets all three of us were wearing to communicate just in case.

“Thanks for stopping. I am sorry to inform you that we’re on cash only. Is that okay?” Dan asks as he preps up a pen and some receipt paper.

There is a pause. “Okay. Just give me a moment,” the voice is of a woman who is clearly depressed.

“That’s fine. Take your time,” Dan says as he goes back to dishes.

“I’d like to get something for my dog. She really likes your food. And- oh, nevermind,” the woman says.

Dan, sensing that something is wrong, “Oh no, go ahead. We got time.”

The woman speaks up, “I really don’t want to waste any of your time. It’s a long story.”

“There’s no one behind you right now. It’s one of our slowest times. If you got something on your mind, go ahead,” Dan says, a smile tugging at his lips.

By this point, I am facepalming in the front as I stock up any cups, bags, and products that we need to open up. Then Amy is in the office, starting to laugh.

Soon, this woman goes into full detail on how her dog is dying. She’s in her last days and the woman just wants to make her happy. The dog was set to go into the vet that day to be put down so that she did not suffer – point is, this story went on in full detail for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, Dan is fully intrigued as to where the story was going while Amy and I laughed uncomfortably.

I ended making everything that the woman ordered and gave her a little extra for her dog.

“Thank you so much! I really needed to get that off of my chest. You guys are just great right now,” the woman said once I handed her food. I let her know about the extra bits and wished her the best.

Once she was gone from the present window, I turned to Dan.

“Why?”

“She seemed so sad. I betcha we made her day,” he was a little too cheery.

“It’s a good thing,” Amy chimed. “But I’m not gonna forget this night.”

We laughed for a brief moment until Dan remembered he had the mop bucket running.

“Shoot!”

I watched as he ran back to the laundry room.

“I created a lake.”

“Congratulations.”

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Another favorite moment (a lot of them were from when I was a manager) was during our slower season. We still had college students running around town since they could not go home. We had a crew member by the name of Todd, who was pretty eccentric. We only had about 10 cars per hour this particular night. The crew had been coming up with impression challenges for him to do for customers all night. It came up that he should do Foghorn Leghorn.

A car pulled up to the speaker.

“Hello?”

(Please do not do this)

“I say, I say, thanks for stopping. What can we – I say – what can we get for you?”

There is laughter coming from the car of college students as they try to order.

“Alright. I say, your order comes to (tells them a total). Please pull – I say – pull around to the first – I say – the first window.”

The car does not move for a moment. Toddy repeats himself.

“Please pull – I say – pull around to the first – I say – the first window.”

“I have a question.”

“I might – I say – I might have an answer.”

“Do you guys do ice cream right now?”

“This girl’s about as smart as a bowling ball.”

There is laughter coming from the crew and the car.

“No! The machine’s broken,” one of the boys yelled from the car.

“I say, we have our sundaes.”

There is excited shouting coming from the car. “I’ll take one of those!” the girl screams.

“Then go ahead – I say – go ahead and pull around to the first window.”

They pull around...not to the first window, but to the second window. Before I can take their money, they are backing up to the first window.

“Todd...you’re right. About as smart as a bowling ball.”

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There are all kinds of customer service stories. Some are great, others not so much. It just depends on how you feel about your job, customers and coworkers included.