Customer Service...or lack of

It amazes me how many people don't understand the concept of customer service. Or, rather, let their employees slip by without understanding it. A good friend of mine recently visited Sonoma, and I was thrilled to provide her a list of our favorite wineries. When she returned, I was completely disappointed to hear about her experience at one of our favorites! The person pouring their wine, the face of the winery to her family, was awful. She even found Yelp reviews of him afterwards, and discovered that they were not the only ones with this experience. So, from now on, she will forever have a bad feeling about this wonderful winery - she will not refer people to visit - even worse, she'll tell them to stay clear! She will not purchase the wine, nor will she ever return. All because of some punk kid.

This happens time and time again. We have had similar experiences in restaurants, wineries and stores - our friends have a wonderful time and recommend the place to us, and we have just the opposite occur. I have worked in retail and as a waitress, so I've been there. We all have bad days, sure, it happens. But when that bad day can have such a huge negative effect on your business and your reputation, maybe you should just call in sick...