What if everybody ...? Customer service seems to be like the weather--everybody talks about it but everywhere you go, customers are missing service in a big way.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat

DON GALLEGOS, RETIRED CEO OF GROCERY giant King Soopers, gave a wonderful presentation at an awards breakfast in Denver recently, on the subject of service. He told story after story of well-meaning employees testing the commitment of customers by insisting that they jump through some arbitrary hoop held up by the employee/company.

One example he gave struck home because it actually happened to me. Late one night I stopped to get milk and bread or something like that on last-minute instructions from my wife. As I walked toward the door of the store I saw an employee walking to the door from inside. It was like one of those slow-motion commercials. I felt a need to beat him to the door but every time I picked up a little speed, so did he. He got to the door just a half-step before I did; just time enough to get the key in the latch. As I put my hand on the door, our hands just inches apart through the glass, he twisted the key, locked the door, shrugged his shoulders, pointed In his watch, gave me an "I'm really sorry look," and walked away.

Don, who is writing a book, "Win the Customer, not the Argument," says that if you asked this employee why he locked out a customer, he would have quoted the company rule and said something like, "What if everyone wanted to get in at closing time?" I think Don's answer would be: "How many people were at the door? Take care of customers individually! In this case, open the door! Your customer will never forget it!"

By the way, I have never gone back to that store or any other in the particular strip mall where I stopped.

Since Don's talk I seem to notice the phenomenon everywhere. For example, the hostess at a really nice restaurant who told my wife and me when we asked for a larger table, "Sorry, what if every couple who came here wanted to sit at a table for tour?" She made her point ... but we don't go there to eat any more.

A pharmacist said he couldn't help me with my time problem, explaining, "What if...