Black belt screening tonight for Fiona

The first of three. Let's hope she gets through the screening process all the way this time; if she does, she'll test in early December.

A letter to customer service

I sent the following email to the customer service contact for the Caribou Coffee website:

I just wanted to send a note of appreciation about the friendliness of the counterpeople working at this particular Caribou.

This coffee shop is right next door to a karate studio, which has several hundred students who attend classes there each week--I believe it's actually the largest National Karate studio in the franchise in Minneapolis. I have been taking my two daughters there for classes for four years and taking classes myself. I have bought many a cup of coffee to take next door while I've sat to watch my daughters taking a class. But what particularly prompts me to write is this:

Karate classes can be very strenuous, and the students come out terrible thirsty! There is a water machine in the karate studio where water costs $1, but many students choose instead to go next door to Caribou where they request a cup of ice water.

In the four years that we've come to your store to beg for water, the Caribou staff have ALWAYS been unfailingly cheerful and polite about these requests. Sometimes there is a water dispenser set up with cups beside it, but if there isn't, and if the students ask at the counter, they are never turned away, no matter how busy the store is, and I have NEVER seen even the slightest hint of annoyance on the part of any employee over a request that they must get many, many times a day.

Your people are UNFAILINGLY friendly and courteous, even to people who are (at that moment) not actually buying anything but simply asking for a favor. You had better believe that has made a very positive impression. I feel warmly welcomed every time I step into the store.

Thank you.

I just got a nice email back from the customer relations department, thanking me for sending the note, and saying they'd pass on the praise to the store and the district manager. I know that there are several communities on LiveJournal where people complain either about lousy customers or lousy shopping experiences.

It's easy to complain when things go wrong. Tell me instead about a business that you like to patronize because they really impress you. Have you ever taken the trouble to thank them for it?