What My Daughter Did and Learned About Customer Experience At Her Favourite Restaurant

My daughter's favourite restaurant is Red Robins and unfortunately all five branches are closing down in Alberta on December 8. This past Saturday, Arissa and I decided to have supper there as her father was hosting an event elsewhere.

Since the closure announcements, Red Robins has been so busy that our wait time that evening was 20-30 minutes. During that time Arissa and I just talked and watched people come and go.

After 15-20 minutes we were seated at our table and had the sweetest server, Tammy. Even though she was so busy, she'd always come by and just let us know that she'd be with us or that our food was on its way.

As we waited for our food, Arissa did not go on her smart phone. There were times during our "date" that we had nothing to talk about and honestly, as a parent, I thought, "She'll grab her phone right now, coz she's bored."

I intentionally left my phone in my purse and I had decided I wasn't going to look at it unless it rang.

At home, we have a rule - no phones on the dining table, and I've noticed that even when we eat out, Arissa will not go on her smart phone. She'd rather be present and talk or watch what's going on around her surroundings and I really noticed that at Red Robins.

When it was time to pay for our meal, Arissa says, "Mom, make sure you give Tammy a big tip."

"What makes you say that? Is it because Red Robins is closing down or something you observed?" (notice, I just didnt ask her "why")

"Mom, for such a busy night, she was awesome. She looked after us and she's always smiling (instead of frustrated) and I loved her happy voice!" Arissa replied.

"Arissa, I'm glad you obseved that, but just giving a great tip may not make her realize how her service impacted you." It would be nice if you told her what you just told me," I replied.

Arissa was hesitant, but when Tammy came by to pick up the payment machine from me, Arissa complimented her on her service and her "happy" voice. You could tell that Tammy was really touched and she replied, "I can't tell you how much that means to me today."

When we are receiving a service, we only see what's on the outside and we don't know what the person's life is like or what they may be going through. Sure, we could have just given her a bigger tip (which we did) and left it at that and walked out.

I wanted to teach my daughter two things here:

• When you receive great service it's because it aligned with your values of customer experience. We not only pay for that service, but we need to verbalize it so the person/company understands that they are indeed meeting their customer's expectations. We are quick at giving negative reviews or complaning, but how many of us just take a second and say something positive about one's service?
• Make someone's day when they have made yours! You never know how that will impact the other person. That's kindness too.

Will you reply and share your positive customer experience or something your child did to make someone's day?

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