Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sweetest Customer EVER Award

So toady I was sitting at work, minding my own business.

Okay, so I was actually on the phone with Bird from our South Store, trying to get through a very complicated pain in my ass special order for a sheet music customer. 

(By the way, Reverend retired. And by retired I mean he came into the store Monday morning and said he was resigning. And then he packed up his things from his office and left and we haven't seen or heard from him since. I just tell his customers that he's retired now because saying he just up and quit on morning doesn't sound as pleasant.)

I was on the phone with him, talking about how inventory was claiming we had six of them, when I heard, "Channelle? She's standing over there."

So I looked up, wondering who had come in looking for me, and there was a delivery guy holding a huge bouquet of red and white flowers in a giant vase.

Flowers. 

I was...surprised. Shocked. Immediately thrilled. 

In a confused voice, I interrupted Bird's sentence to say, "Hey, I'll call you back. Some flowers just walked in the door with my name on it." And I hung up.

Everyone was looking at the flowers and saying how sweet Padawan was for sending them, and I was agreeing as I was opening up the card and the delivery guy was getting the paperwork ready for me to sign.

And when I read the card, I was beyond shocked.

"Uh...these aren't from Padawan."

Every single coworker's head swiveled to stare at me.

"They're from a customer."

Everybody hurried over to see.

Oh, I kid you not. A customer sent me flowers. Actually, not even a customer since I failed in every respect to get her what she was trying to find. You see, this woman lives out of state, and she was trying to find sheet music for a song called "Phoenix Burn" by a local band of Austin's called Alfa Rev. The song was featured at the end of a movie called The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and her daughter loved it so much she wanted to use it as an audition piece for a prestigious choir at her school.

So over the last month I have been in contact with the customer, our sheet music suppliers, and the band and band manager trying to locate a single sheet for piano and vocal for this song. And in the end the last answer I received was, "For legal reasons, our manager advises against sending a copy of our originals. We have no printed music."

And that was the end of it. Once they cite "legal reasons" there is no further argument.

So I had to call this awesome customer who was so friendly, so patient, so understanding, and tell her that I couldn't find it. That I couldn't get it. That for legal reasons, there were no copies to be had. And she thanked me and we talked for a few minutes, because she's cool and I like hearing about the goings on up there, and then we hung up and I felt like I had disappointed her. We had been hoping...and all for nothing.

And then she sent me flowers today as a thank you for going above and beyond to try to help them out, and a promise to let me know how her daughter's audition goes. (It's tomorrow.) 

The flowers are red and white, and there's a red and black ribbon around the vase to represent their school colors. And it's honestly the sweetest, most amazing thing a customer has ever done to show appreciation. In fact, I'm the only person in the store to have had flowers as a thank you. (Although one of our regulars did send us pizza as a thank you for some repair work and general awesomeness, but that was for everyone.) 

It was epic. 

And just for kicks...here's a picture.



This completely and totally makes up for every single rotten customer I've had in the last year. I'm even feel ready to forgive the jackass who said my eyes were creepy and lifeless.

21 comments:

  1. Wow, that's amazing! It shows there are some decent people in the world. That was really nice of her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It makes me want to do something really nice for the next nice person who helps me out.

      Delete
  2. Oh my gosh! That is SO amazing! It's always great to have stuff like that happen, especially at work. Enjoy our flowers! You deserve them! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since I've got flowers...I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep track of the band so when they DO publish...

      I can get the music and send it to her.

      And that will be awesome.

      Delete
    2. And that, my good friend, is exactly why you deserve those flowers. :)

      Delete
  3. So beautiful. It is so rare and wonderful to actually have a customer show appreciation. Enjoy, you obviously deserve them

    “Lizard Happy”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the in the world of retail, even musical retail, customer appreciation is limited to thank yous of the verbal variety...except for when they send the pizzas. But that's pretty rare, too.

      Delete
  4. It's nice to get thanks even if you try and don't succeed. I tried all of my usual places and couldn't find it either. That really sucks that they couldn't be nice enough to share their stuff.

    It was really sweet and thoughtful of that lady to send you flowers. She must have thought you went above and beyond.

    And who besides me thinks that Alpha Rev is just an awesome name for a band???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rev, you like Alpha Rev? Really?

      Interesting.

      Hey, the band guys were all very nice and helpful. It's not a nice thing. It's a legal thing, and I can understand that.

      She did think I went above and beyond. She said it in the note, and it was so sweet. I nearly cried when I called to thank her.

      I personally think Suicidal Ideation would be a good name for a band. Or Jello Stain. But Alpha Rev is pretty cool.

      Delete
    2. Of course I think Fabulously Neurotic would be a good band name too!

      Delete
    3. Hmmm...food for thought. But I still think Suicidal Ideation would be my band's name. Or Jell-O Stain

      Delete
  5. WOW! Beautiful flowers, wonderful customer! It's nice to know there are still thoughtful people in the world who recognize hard work. I'm so glad you got these, especially after the eyeball-phobic lunatic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They smell so pretty! Every time I look at them it makes me smile. I think if the eye jerk had come in after I'd gotten the flowers it would have taken away some of the joy. So I'm really glad they came after.

      Delete
  6. That's so nice that it borders on insanity :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well it's better crazy flowers than a head in a box.

      Delete
    2. It's hard to argue with a head in a box.

      Delete
  7. Flowers rock, it's always nice to be appreciated. And your eyes aren't lifeless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, appreciation is always a lovely feeling. Makes one feel like a queen.

      Delete
  8. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!


    But I'm still not ready to forgive lifeless-eyes dude.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. well I only said I would forgive him...

      I didn't say I was going to be NICE when he comes back. If he comes back.

      But you can be mad at him for as long as you want. However long you feel is necessary. And when you're ready to forgive him you can beat him up.

      Delete

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