I contacted the corporation, and low and behold, about a week later, the driver of the truck came an knocked on my apartment door, with a HUGE box full of bread, rolls, etc. He apologized and told me he was the driver, but didn’t remember the near accident. He was very apologetic and kind. However, there was no way I could have eaten all that bread, and I was getting ready to go out of town for a week.

I took the bread to a local shelter and handed it to them. They were so happy!!!!

I have called the various elite lines of the hotels that I frequent and let them know what fine employees they have. I try to make note of the name somewhere so that I can refer to it in the conversation. I know how much I appreciate positive feedback and thus try to do my turn with others too! I have also received letters back from management, thanking me for my compliments.

I heard from Theresa but not with your e-mail…we will see.

Another time I received a whole box of free goodies from a parent company that makes a lot of brand name products. I had bought one of their products at a local store, and didn’t realize that it was spoiled until I got home. The store I went to was 30 minutes away. It looked like the product had been damaged in shipping, so I called the company, they apologized, sent me a check for the retail value of the item, and a week later I received about $40 worth of free stuff from them, including dry soup mixes, tea bags, salad dressing, peanut butter, jelly, and a few other items. I gave some of the stuff away to friends, neighbors, or my parents. I gave the salad dressing to a restaurant I frequented at the time, because it was a flavor they didn’t carry, and were always asked for. The restaurant gave me a free meal for that.

I do try to praise as much as possible. I may not always speak to the manager and give kudos to a particular employee, but I do show my appreciation in other ways. When it comes to restaurants, if the server is polite and apologetic for not getting to me when he or she has an entire portion of a dining room to cover, then I show some compassion and leave a slightly bigger than normal tip. My parents did the same thing for a server at a Ryan’s because she ended up taking over another server’s tables (including ours), as well as having to cover a large party in the back. I remember some friends of mine and I leaving another server at the same Ryan’s a very generous tip, because she was apologetic, and tried as much as possible to tend to us while at the same time having to tend to two or three large birthday parties. She was looking quite flustered, so we asked her if she could just leave a pitcher of tea and Coke on our table and we’d take care of ourselves. I think she looked like she wanted to both cry and kiss us. We told her it was no trouble at all, left her a generous tip, and told the manager about her.

Even though they may not seem like they care, restaurants and other businesses built on serving the community do care about what their customers think.

One restaurant that really cares is Cracker Barrel. A few months ago a lot of the store managers from other nearby locations were at the restaurant near my home, because it had received the highest customer satisfaction rating of all the locations in the entire country. So the managers were there to take notes on what this store was doing that theirs weren’t. The district manager was there, as was the manager of another location I frequent. I told him that he should have brought the entire staff from that store to this store, because they’re so slow, half of them were rude, and if there was one thing I could count on, it’s that by the time I got out of there after eating supper, traffic in Atlanta would be very light. He apologized, told me that next time I showed up to ask for him and he would give me a free meal (which I never did…forgot), but the next time I went to that location, it had improved big time. Like the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

I was at a Holiday Inn Select and was upgraded to a suite. I stayed two nights. The first night, I was so tired, that I went right to bed. The second night, I opened a armoire drawer to find a phone book and observed a pile of dirty clothes. I walked over to the phone near the window and just past the sofa to find a pair of men’s DIRTY boxers on the floor next on the side of the sofa….eeew. They had been there a while.

Yes, I complained and was offered FREE breakfast , FREE points ( which I took) and a FREE night
which I did not take. NOW I check everything in the room when I arrive…lots of things lurk under beds! Even fancy hotels have housekeepers that do not do a good job.

I hope to hear from Theresa…she has not answered my recent e-mail…too busy probably.

JJ you can keep the Mc Donald’s coupons….I ate there WAY too much in college. I do love Chik Fil A…they have the best sweet tea. Good suggestion…I try to praise those who deserve it and complain when they need it too.

MJG, Theresa has my email and is welcome to forward it to you!

Theresa: How is your brother doing?

Lately, I have been firing off letters to McDonalds, Chick FilA, etc about service at several locations. You get coupons too when you complain or write KUDOS……especially if corporate finds out, then the actual manager will contact you. I got two free McDonalds Value Meal coupons, and two for Chick Fil A…..We eat for free about once or twice a month!!!

catlady…FYI my husband corrected me in that we got cable when my son was in MIDDLE school.