Perfect Customer Service…

The Unexpected Beauty of Perfect Customer Service…

So it’s Sunday morning. And I am up early, while the beautiful Miss P is lounging away and occasionally stirring. It is hard to leave the comfort of this Ralph Lauren Sleigh Bed that seems to be an acre big and at least 4 feet off the deck. Eventually, I circle back and sit on the bed with my feet on the stool. A Stool? I need it to get up that high!

Miss P opens her peepers and does a quick survey of the situation and it’s at that moment we telepathically arrive at the same stop sign in Dreamville: it’s time for a nice brunch.

It’s a flurry of activity, a cyclone of tops, bottoms, shoes and hair products and Miss P is ready, so then I grab some jeans, a shirt and sneakers… and I am ready for the outside! We are down the stairs and into the Volvo in a flash since we realize it’s already 1:30 so we are fighting the clock and the traffic.

We are in the Volvo, careening out of Pittsboro and frantically thinking of where to go for a beautiful Sunday Brunch… at 1:45 Sunday afternoon.

That Puts the Butter on The Spinach

We are driving into Carrboro and looking for a place that’s open, has a decent menu and can take care of us. We are striking out… some places are closed, some we’ll pass on from experience, we are not looking for perfect customer service and then Miss P sings out “Venable”!! that place between Weaver Street and the soon to be no more “The Station“.

Ok, destination strategized, Miss P puts her 5′ 2” lead foot to the pedal, then to the metal, and we’re off! But we’re kidding ourselves – they close at 2pm and without the flux-capacitor, or Scotty and the Transporter, we’ll never make it. So I call ’em up, and the girl who answers says they are closing in a few minutes.

C’est Morte! Foiled Again…

So I said “That’s fine, can we order now? Yes, right now on the phone before the kitchen closes… ?” Silence ensues: and, I thought to myself, “Because then, when we get there, we should have our order, n’cest pas?”

This confused the girl for a moment, not the French, but an off the reservation-type request. To her credit, she did the right thing and got her manager on the phone. The Manager (who was smart as a whip an’ brighter than a new penny) took the phone and, without skipping a beat, took our order! Could this be the perfect customer service alternate universe?

And it was detailed, too, only because we’d been there before so we sort of knew what they had. Miss P goes for the Shrimp & Grits, I am partial to their Eggs Benny.

Now we are in their parking lot, screeching tires and all…

In one fluid sequence Miss P pulls into the only open space in a full-up parking lot, we bail out and head for the stairs, bound up to the Venable front door, and we spill into the restaurant.

If you’ve ever been there, you know that from the front door you can look down the food way parallel to the bar and peer right into the exposed kitchen. Chef stuff is going on, and things are being closed down, washed, put away…

This is where it gets really good…

The Hostess comes over and before we could say who we were and that we had called earlier…we are whisked into the first booth. In the blink of an eye the table is set before us, water is brought forward by unseen hands… and within seconds the delicious Brunch we had envisioned over the phone is set before us by Alyssa, who disappears down the food way and then reappears from around the corner with hot coffee in a press, hot sauce, additional toast, and a Coca-Cola with ice for Miss P.

As if by Magic…

Our beautiful breakfast is suddenly in front of us, steaming and making those odd hot food sounds.

Miss P is having Shrimp & Grits, with an xtra bowl of grits, steaming, on the side. I am digging into a hot, perfectly presented Eggs Benedict, with beautiful potatoes, greens and a sliver of bacon… is it always Hollandaise that goes on top?

What I actually had was two eggs in minced herbs & cream served with applewood-smoked bacon, crostini & country potatoes… yummy yummy!

And Miss P had her Shrimp and Grits which she loves from this Kitchen, and which she has sent back more that Mrs. Maisel’s dress at a fitting in many other establishments.

So what’s the Point?

That’s just the potatoes, Dear Reader… now here comes the gravy: This experience was remarkable on so many different levels and in so many ways.

Most restaurants would have locked the door as we were coming up the stairs, no matter what. Am I right? And the fact that this customer-facing, serviced-focused super manager had her eye on the ball re: revenue acquisition, made all the difference. Because, rather than turn us away on the phone, she took the order and followed through.

Gold Star Manager

Not only that, we had a food delivery technician in Miss Alyssa who had a 1,000 WATT smile, and no request was too much; she ran around for us, and while the Hostess couldn’t wait to get out of there, and didn’t seem to care about the customers or us, this Manager and her Minion, were completely focused on doing us right and in doing so delivered perfect customer service.

Wait… What?

Not only that, we had a food delivery technician in Miss Alyssa who had a 1,000 WATT smile, and no request was too much; she ran around for us, and while the Hostess couldn’t wait to get out of there, this Manager and her Minion were completely focused on doing us right.