Another shining example of how customer service works -- or should

When I lived in Germany many moons ago, customers were not king. In fact, traditionally, you just shopped and cowered, begging for service and goodness gracious should you try to suggest to a cashier that something was mismarked. I made that mistake once as a college student, telling a cashier that she had overcharged me for an item. Her reaction? To sit back in her chair, cross her arms firmly across her chest and stare into space in front of her not acknowledging I even still existed. I got the message and wriggled away meekly.

But things are changing for the better as the German public is realizing it has rights, just as stores and employees realize they can actually be nice and offer service – in fact, that they have to do that in order to keep customers and stay in business.

Just this week, while in Germany covering a trade show, I happened into a pharmacy for a prescription. Now, pharmacies in Germany are a bit different. Pharmacists act a bit like doctors, listening to ailments and suggesting something you might have, standing behind a counter and fetching the appropriate meds from rows of shelves behind them. They are – or have been – pretty bureaucratic places.

I strolled in with my U.S. prescription and showed it to the young woman. She dove into “scurry mode,” searching her computer, looking up the med, suggesting she could get it delivered by that evening for me to pickup since they didn’t have it on hand (“Would that work for you?”). Then she added as an afterthought, “You know, there is this other medicine that is very similar here that is significantly less expensive. Do you want to try that one instead? I have it here and it would save you a lot of money.”

I was stunned. Well, sure, OK… She told me about it and it seemed correct so I got it (for nearly half the price), although they only had one small package of two tablets. She said if I wanted more, she had a friend who worked at the trade show and, if my schedule didn’t allow me to get back in during working hours, I could call her and she could figure out a way to have her friend deliver it to me there. Wow. Now that’s service.

So I paid for it and was out the door on the street when I heard a voice behind me: The woman had dashed out from behind the counter and waved me down on the street corner because she had just found another small package. “I am so silly,” she told me, as we went back inside. “I can’t believe I missed that. This should save you another trip.”

OK, I’ll be back to that pharmacy if I need anything!