That diamond customer

I know every customer is important. Trust me when I say I live by that mantra. I always get the customers that seem a bit... difficult and I always just think "you know what, they might be moody because they're having a bad day or broke up with their partner or dealing with stress at work" and the crazy cracker ones are just always a bit of a pleasure in the end! 

I'm nice to everyone and I'm always commended on my customer service skills (not to sound David Brent-esque) but I really do think it's because I have a genuine joy for getting to know people and experiencing things with them. I'm lucky that an aspect of my job is sharing the joy (and stress) that comes with finding out you're expecting a visit from the stork and there's nothing more miraculous to me than childbirth, not just in humans either! 

So to the point - today was a Saturday at work and it was all going a bit slow, I drank a lot of Ribena and tidied up a lot of clothing rails and it was getting to that point where I was just trying to occupy myself and then the nicest couple ever just metaphorically fell into my hands. 

They weren't that different to your standard happy couple who were friendly but I really loved the fact that at the end she complimented me on how friendly and helpful I was. Even though I had a lot of Ribena, sugar doesn't affect my energy in the slightest (I feel my Coca-Cola addiction killed it off) she said it seemed like I had bountiful energy and really suited my job. 

I loved that she said that. Don't get me wrong, I'm a lazy person at heart but once I get going on something there's no stopping me - the energy and passion comes out of nowhere. It's not the pushchairs that I have passion for but more the fact that someone is listening to me and I'm being helpful. She also queried as to whether I had kids of my own as I seemed very knowledgeable but I'm putting that down to a mix of good training and learning through other customers' experiences. 

I love building a relationship with customers - it's like having a grown-up friend coming to visit you at work and I have three of my golden customers who come in regularly and I actually feel genuinely happy to see them and their kids. I was more than happy to include this couple into my golden list because they were just so lovely.

The best part of all? She actually called me by my name at the end of the transaction. I find it so unbelievably rewarding when a customer remembers your name.