There was this place in the mid 80’s that Laura and I used to enjoy going to.
I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of the place (don’t you hate that?) but I do remember that we always referred to it as “Uncle Boomers”. Now you don’t just pull a name like “Uncle Boomer’s” out of a freakin hat you know, there was a reason.
They had this mechanized character called “Uncle Boomer” who would play a few tunes with his band of badass mechanized dudes.
Call me childish, but I really enjoyed that little show and it always seemed the perfect setting for the hot ham and cheese hero I would always order.
Apparently, other people were digging Uncle Boomer too because the place became insanely busy over time.
Little by little, things started to change at “Uncle Boomers”
The people behind the counter acted like they were doing me a favor by taking my money and they were always pissy! If it weren’t for the fact that I would have had to hit a woman, I would have slapped that woman in the head while yelling “Out Demon”! I put behind the counter pissiness right up there with giving me my change with the coins on top of the bills but once again I digress!
They began screwing up the food orders. Then they would get pissy all over again when you brought it to their attention. Now I’m sure all you “glass half full” folks might see this as “twice the pissiness for the same, low, low price” but I see it as someone screwing with me when I’m hungry.
Then Uncle Boomer stopped showing up. They were too busy to fix whatever mechanical glitch had occurred.
This next part shouldn’t shock you but little by little, their customers took their money up the street and soon Uncle Boomers was no more.
While this was more than 23 years ago, I still see a little “Uncle Boomer” in lots of businesses.
Uncle Boomer lives whenever
We act as if the customer is an inconvenience. I would think that during one of the worst recessions in recent history we might appreciate those who keep us in business, but sadly that isn’t always the case.
Sometimes, we forget to smile, more importantly we forget that when we’re with our customers . . . it’s show time! That means we need to wipe whatever BS we’re about to wear on our sleeve and focus, instead on brightening their day. Kind of hard to do when the boss just pissed you off, you feel unappreciated and you have things going on in your personal life, but that’s when the old Hollywood mantra of “The show must go on” must be embraced. Silly thought: People love to hang out with people who make them feel good, not people they have to continually talk off a ledge!
Unless you truly offer something unique, I offer my ham n cheese hero as my final piece of evidence.
People can get a ham n cheese hero anywhere . . . what will you do to create an environment for it to become ridiculous for them to ever consider “dining” elsewhere?
Oh, and all this talk about food has made your competitor mighty hungry. If they are willing to outwork you, when it comes to your own customers . . . they might just come and eat your lunch!
Don’t ever be so busy that you kid yourself into thinking that you’ll get around to loving your customers later!
Today you are cordially invited to light some candles, turn on the Barry White and
Love Your Customer!
Related Post: 5 Ways To Love Your Customer!
