I was redirected on the way home last week to pick up a pizza.
I walked in and exchanged the normal pleasantries with the owner.
He handed me the pizza and I handed him my credit card.
“Sorry, cash or check. We are changing over our credit processing and it is down right now.”
I reached in my pocket and found eight dollars, a little over half of what I needed.
The owner says. “Don’t worry about it. Take it home and eat it while it is hot. Bring the money back later. We’re open until 10pm.”
[mouth hanging wide open]
I think it is amazing that the folks at Crossroads Pizza still trust their customers.
Even in my home town of 14k, I don’t think that kind of thing happens (which I happen to be in presently).
Only smalll businesses I suspect…. (it looks like Crossroads is locally owned).
Anyyways, (I enjoy reading your blog) Happy Holidays!
It is refreshing to hear stories like this. I think at the core of the gesture are a few things we could all do ourselves:
1. treat your customer like you would want to be treated
2. be the unexpected
3. remember that a happy customer is a repeat customer
That’s cool! I have a regular place I like where they would do just that if I ran into the situation, but it’s because they know me from ordering so much over time. If I get the owner, he instantly recognizes my voice on the phone. Usually it’s delivery, but I’ve long wanted to bring Sadie in there with me.
Anyway, worst case, he got half the money and didn’t have to risk tossing the pizza. Best case, he got all the money and look at the happy customer and word of mouth. It’s nice, but also it’s totally to his benefit. It’s just that so many people in his shoes would forget that.