Saying "Thank You"

I was sitting in a drive-thru the other day when I had an epiphany. Well - I don't know if it was actually an epiphany, but it was to me. I had a rather large order and to top it all off, I had a combination of "specialty" items such as "everything except for pickle, no ketchup, light ranch instead of regular, a cup filled with just ice.." You know - I was that irritating customer that we all know and LOVE... :)

Because I have had such poor service at some of these drive-thru's (Rebels excluded, of course) and because I don't have much faith in the entire customer service industry (shame on me!) I had already decided that I would NOT get just what I wanted (Yes, I am one of THOSE people who will sit moments after receiving my food to make sure everything I ordered is in the bag - right down to opening up sandwich wrap to take a look at the actual item).

I was very surprised when I got up to the window and the kind gentleman read me back everything on my order - WITHOUT looking at his screen and included every specification I asked for. I am sure by the look on my face he could tell that I was a little stunned but what he didn't know was that he had indeed won over a customer for life based on that one experience and trust me and let me tell you to win me over in the customer service arena, is hard to do!

I thanked him when he handed me my food but here is where the epiphany comes in. I didn't just say "Thank you" which would be the obvious response to someone who just handed me my order, but instead I said "Thank you for remembering my order so accurately!" He seemed to beam from this thank you - I think I really made his day.

So I got to thinking that we need to be more specific with our thank you's. I have really been working on this a lot this week. When someone calls me back instead of saying thank you, I now try to say "Thanks so much for getting back with me so quickly". When someone helps out in ministry for my church at that last minute I will now say "Thank you for your service you are such a blessing to this team!" I truly believe that being as specific with our gratitude as possible will bless the people receiving it. I am going to try my hardest to really work on this in my daily life - how about you?