Excuse me sir may I have some more?

The title character in Charles Dickens famous novel "Oliver Twist" was still hungry and wanted a second helping of food.

I am constantly hungry for more. Not the materialistic more. I want more education, more love, more compassion, more cooperation, and even more service. In this poor service society, we could all use a bit more.

A call was made to a government agency on Tuesday morning. I got a call back Wednesday morning. Without a phone number, I had to phone the call centre for a second time. I left my phone number and got a second return call back this morning. Not able to answer at the time of the call, again no phone number to return the call, I will have to go through a call centre again. How many times will I do this before I give up completely?

Today I visited three different hardware stores looking for help. The customer service at all three can not be considered bad. Is the new acceptable standard just not to be bad?

Here's what happened. The first store has locations throughout the world. They are huge. I asked where I could find my desired product. The man dressed in orange pointed me in the right direction barely stopping his step as he walked in the opposite direction. When I found my prize, I waited 15 minutes for someone else to come along to help me out further. No one did. Even though I was ready to buy that product, I left the store empty handed.

The second store is a regional organization. Not as big as the first, usually better priced, it's usually where I go. I knew where to find my prize this time so there was no need to ask for directions. There was a salesperson close by. He was very helpful and pointed out that I could actually buy a partial box instead of a full box. Nice touch I thought. I was also looking for a second item and he told me they didn't carry that product line. Imagine my dismay as I exited the store when I came across the supposed section that did not exist. The service at the second store was much better than the first store. But the fact the salesperson wasn't knowledgeable enough to help me complete my purchases, I left unhappy again.

I went on to the third store. This store is a part of a franchise network. It is national in scope but locally owned and operated. As I was browsing the section of my desire, a salesman approached and asked if I needed help. Upon informing him of my desired prize, he immediately told me that they didn't carry the product in store, but maybe they had it on-line. He spent the next 5 minutes browsing his inventory list trying to find a match for my search. While I waited for those 5 minutes I felt someone was actually knowledgeable, friendly, and trying to take care of me.. I observed similar interactions between other customers with the sales staff. The conversations were not just friendly they were almost family-like.

The third store was the best of the three. It's the smallest of the three. It's the more expensive of the three. It also has the most inconvenient location of the three. But if this is the type of service I get the next time I need something, they will win a loyal customer.

I shouldn't have to ask for more. As a store owner, you need to know we are service deprived... But if you give me more service, I'll return that with more business.

Sounds simple, yet almost no one is doing it...