Another Random Act of Kindness

Today I've been working pretty constantly on a trend presentation I am giving in September at a convention. With only 30 minutes to catch lunch, I headed to Panda Express to get a rice bowl. I bumped into a co-worker who happened to be ahead of me in line. As we chatted and waited to pay we noticed there was a problem. Apparently the cash register wasn't in the mood to process credit/debit cards. Cashless, my co-worker and I both held up our cards when asked how we planned to pay. Oh no, what are we gonna do? At that moment, the guy working the register decided that rather than have us walk out hungry he told us our lunches were on him. What?! No, no, no, we said. He insisted. We asked if we could at least have a copy of the receipts to pay back Panda the next time we come in. Nope, no worries. I then looked at his name tag. His name is Yee. Thanks, Yee! Lucky for Yee there was only 3 of us waiting to pay at the time. What a nice example of real customer service. I made it back to my desk with just enough time to eat and get back to my trend report. Another random act of kindness exhibited at lunchtime! By the way, I opened my fortune cookie and it read: Enjoy the good luck a companion brings you. Maybe bumping into my co-worker paid off.

A Random Act of Kindness

As part of my job as a trends specialist, I write articles for various magazines within the craft and hobby industry. Recently I wrote about the trend of business owners and employees who offer 'random acts of kindness' as an way to build customer relations. I mentioned several businesses and described what they were doing, and how appreciative their customers were. Well, today it happened to me! I made an online lunch order to Chipotle as I do every few weeks. Just for me; just one Fajita Bowl and a drink. I like Chipotle but it's not like I hang out there. I maybe go twice a month. Anyway, my friend and I head over there to pick up my lunch. We walk up to the front of the line to pay--when you order online you just go in, pay for it if you haven't already, and they hand your food to you--and as I am handing the girl my credit card she says, No, no, lunch is on us today because you are a good customer and we want to thank you! What? Excuse me? Really?! Yes! And here's a bag of chips to go with that. My friend is looking at me like 'how do you rate?' I said to her, It's a 'random act of kindness', just like I wrote about. It makes the customer feel great and builds goodwill. And you know what? It really does. Thank you, Chipotle. That was a super nice thing you did for me!