The act of being a gentleman brought me good luck. The same could not be said of the two ladies who were the beneficiaries of my gentlemanly act. I arrived at the door of the pancake restaurant at the same time they did, so I opened the door for them, which allowed them to enter ahead of me. The hostess seated them in a booth that was being serviced by a waitress named Dot. The waitress at my table was Tranisha. When we arrived, Dot and Tranisha where busy rolling silverware into napkins. Within seconds, Tranisha had greeted me, filled my cup with coffee, and was generally making me feel like a king, while Dot continued rolling up her silverware. Finally the two ladies asked for some service. Dot grudgingly got up, walked over to them and asked them what they wanted to order. For the length of time that I was there, I didn't see Dot smile a single time. I'm not sure what the rest of the dining experience for those two ladies was like, because I had finished eating before they ever got their food.
I have no reason to believe that Dot is not a nice lady, and since she stayed busy the whole time I was there, she is apparently not a lazy person. But she certainly gave me the impression that she does not enjoy being a waitress. If I'm your customer, I want to see some enthusiasm! I want your face to tell me that taking care of my needs is exactly what you want to be doing at that moment. If you're performing a service for others, whatever it may be, the ones being served need to feel that you're doing that service because that's what you WANT to be doing.
Nothing can take the place of delivering a quality product or service that fills the needs of the consumer, but whether or not we want to admit it, there are other people out there besides us who can do that; so I have to make sure that my enthusiasm in performing my service is what puts me over the top. A couple years ago, I was walking through the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and I passed a stage where a band was performing. There's no denying the fact that they were good, but I've heard plenty of good bands in my time; yet there was something about them that stopped me in my tracks. I was so captivated by the combination of the quality of their music and the expressions on their faces that said "I love what I'm doing," that I told the two guys that were with me, "You two can do what you want, but I'm staying here a while."
I've been in sales for most of my life, and during that time, I've learned that if I want to be successful, there are two things my customers have to be sold on: I have to sell them on my product, and I have to sell them on me. They could go somewhere else and buy a quality product, but there's one small problem...if they did that, they wouldn't have me to sell it to them.
I wish Dot the best and I hope she lives a long happy life, but the next time I'm back at that pancake house, I'm asking for Tranisha.
Preston
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