Customer Service

Last week, I stayed a little late at the office to pay some bills. I stopped at the post office on the way home, and, since this was Wed, and the next day was Veterans Day, I didn't just leave my mail in the drive-thru boxes, I went in. To be sure they got out with the mail asap, whether that was later that evening, or early Friday. I just wanted to be sure it went out sooner rather than later.

Friday evening, I came home from work, well after 5pm, to find that, even though I'd properly addressed and stamped my mortgage payment, which would be late after Monday, the post office had somehow managed to deliver it to me instead of sending it on to the recipient.

Lovely.

Promptly the next morning, I took the payment (and my knitting) to the Orem post office to wait in line and see what they would do for me. Not a very long wait later (only a couple of rounds on my socks), the nice postal worker was looking at my envelope and blinking in a baffled way. "Ummm," he says, "gosh, I have no idea...let me just..." and wanders off to the back to see if anyone else might know what went wrong.
Seems that their optical reader must have really liked my address better than the mortgage company, leading it to print my zip on it, which got it delivered to me.
The very nice postal worker proceeded to do it up to go overnight, so it could arrive by Monday, at no cost to me. Which I thought was about right.

On to the next errand, a little fabric shopping with mom.

Home Fabrics went well, even if a little more time-consuming than we'd intended. But at JoAnn, we caused a little trouble. First, the flannel was on sale, which I didn't know before, but we did need some (Christmas pyjama making and all), so, what with one thing and another, a little more spent than I'd planned. While checking out, I jokingly said, as I swiped my card, "gee, wouldn't 10% off be nice?" Our checker, Shay, flipped my mailer open to show me that there was a coupon for exactly that, which she'd be happy to scan.

Except.

Except I'd already swiped my card, it was just waiting for my signature. The only way to get me the 10% now, would be to finish the transaction, refund the whole thing, and start over.
She didn't even flinch - just went ahead and did it, with a smile.
Meanwhile, mom discovers some pricey pillow forms weren't actually on sale, and says if she'd known, she wouldn't have bought them. Shay is happy to return those as well, just as soon as she's done returning all my stuff. We discover we've got two 40% off coupons, both of which we can use for the pillows, so Shay, happy as ever, does the return for mom, refunds the cash, and rings her up again, this time using the coupons, saving mom over $30.
(I'm telling you, next time you're in Orem, at JoAnns, ask for Shay - she's awesome! And then tell Joan, her manager (who is also awesome) how great Shay is.)

Last stop, Lowes, for a drill bit so dad can install the gate, so the dog doesn't have to stay in the house. Dad had to borrow my drill, which is really their old drill, because he can't find theirs. We took the drill with, just to be sure the new bit fit like it should. As we walk in, helpful guy in a red vest, obviously headed elsewhere, asks if we need help. We say yes, because we're thinking it'll be faster that way, and off we go to the drill bits. After finding us what we need, he looks at the drill, and notices the sad state of the cord. It's casing is torn in many places, and it doesn't look safe to use. We're looking at a new cord ($25) and he's telling us how to put it in, when another guy walks up, takes one look at the drill, and, with real concern on his face, points out that a new drill would only cost about $30, so unless we're determined to fix the one we have, that might be the better way to go.
First fella (I'm sorry, I totally missed name tags there - but he's blond, really tall, and has a slight stutter) helps us find a drill most like the one we have (not cordless, and with a level), and we're on our way.

I'm telling you, I think if mom and I had set out with the intention of causing trouble, we couldn't have done any worse. And every time, those awesome, capable, helpful folks came through for us.

After a day like that, the world looks pretty good, you know?