COMPANY POLICY

Here is something amazing. I received a thank you note yesterday. This is not newsworthy in and of itself, but this hand-written, self-addressed note came from a store. It wasn't a computer generated postcard with three sentences of corporate feel-good gobbledy-gook printed in an elegant leaned over cursive fontish way. No, it was an honest to goodness "thank you for shopping at our store" note. How amazing was that? How unusual was that? How sad was it that the first thing I thought when I saw the envelope was "what's the matter with them? I know my check cleared!"



I try, whenever possible, to operate via computer. In these cases, I come to the table with the realistic expectation of being served by bits and bytes, drop-down menus and secured servers. Of course, when web pages are down, all good intentions fly out the window, and the once neglected phone sits snickering in the corner, knowing I have no choice but to dance with the devil.



The human touch in the corporate world is an endangered species, to be sure. Because the national anthem of our cash-hungry Roman Empire-esque society is "do more with less" we are forced to fraternize with the enemy -- those computerized PRESS 1 NOW! automatons -- who take delight in playing a touchtone version of Marco-Polo as we run through the maze seeking the ever-elusive grand prize, The Corporate Palm de Pinocchio: A REAL person.



As I have to continually pick and choose whose company pockets I am going to fill with my hard-earned nickels, I'm increasingly looking past the flash and going for the substance. So what if little guy may not have as many bells and whistles, slick ad campaigns, computerized phone and billing systems or legions of customer assistant service associate representative specialists able to analyze my individual needs in a single bound? With Grill Dogs who know my name, Sewing Ladies who know what I like (and keep my over-indulging a secret), Restaurant owners who visit with all the customers on a daily basis and a shop that takes the time and trouble to write thank you notes, what do I think?



Press 1 for "Grateful" and "I'll be back."

*beep*

Sign My Guestbook!