I have worked in various customer service related positions since I was 16 – almost half my life at this point. Although, providing high quality service has always been my goal, I wanted to share an anecdote from my second job, which revolutionized how I respond to customers, and ultimately changed me as a person.

When I was 20, I worked at a local Chick-Fil-A, primarily covering drive-thru.  If you’ve ever worked in fast food, especially the drive-thru, you understand that you encounter an array of different people (and moods).  It was during that time when I learned about engaging customers, and how changing my tone for each customer often dictated the pleasantness (or unpleasantness) of the interaction.  I could, with adding an inflection in my voice, create a positive interaction with a customer.  It was all about changing my demeanor, and finding a way to present myself to the customer.

Having said that, on one particular occasion none of my methods seemed to work. No matter how I adjusted my tone or spoke to the customer, everyone who approached my window that day seemed dead-set on sharing their bad day with me, whether it in the form of a lament, or just needing me to be part of the problem.  I had had enough, and was struggling to keep a smile on my face.

Several hours into this terrible day, an older gentleman pulled up to the drive-thru window. He fumbled with his change, trying to arrange it so he could get a bill back instead of more coins.  He miscounted, and I irritably handed back his change.  As I turned back towards my register (dreading the next drive-thru *ding*), I noticed this gentleman had opened up his car door, gotten out, and was bending down in front of our register window.  The audacity of someone stopping up the drive-thru lane to collect coins that customers had dropped filled me with righteous wrath.  With a most unpleasant expression, I turned back to the gentleman, ready to sass the man for stealing from us (we usually replace whatever change a customer dropped and pick up the change at the end of the day to return to the till).  Instead – and I will never forget this – he put a handful of coins on the edge of the window, and in a quiet voice stated, “You looked like you were having a bad day. I wanted to help, so I got the change that had fallen for you.”  With the same grace, he got back into his car and drove away. I never even had a moment to thank him.

Providing good customer service is easy when you only have pleasant customers to deal with, but there will always be those days where – no matter how you present yourself – there will be a chain of miserable customers lashing out at you, or insisting that you take the brunt of their issue or unhappiness.  GREAT customer service comes when you are bombarded with difficult situations, and yet you rise above, letting the bad roll off, and presenting a calm, assured, pleasant demeanor always. If anything, what I learned from the older gentleman is to act with kindness every time, because people can surprise you.

I never had the opportunity to thank the man; perhaps he’d been driving through the city on a visit, perhaps he came through the drive-through again on other shifts than my own. That incident, though, changed me. To have been so callous to someone who was still so kind and courteous….

Admittedly, there is still so much to learn.  Hopefully – with effort and time – I too will be able to exhibit such kindness, and maybe even help some 20-year-old girl having a bad day re-evaluate her attitude and make the decision to be her best self. This is the gift the older gentleman gave to me, and one of the many reasons why now – even in my thirties – I can take such great delight in my work.

Ashley Wilson
Project Manager

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