Will Help You Hell For Leather

(I work in a home furniture store, and am doing something when I see a customer wandering through our display sets giving off “buying, not looking” vibes. My coworker, who is closer, smiles and greets the customer.)

Customer: “Do you have any fabric samples?”

Coworker: “Yes, of course! What kind of fabric were you thinking about? Material or leather, patterned or plain?”

Customer: “Well, I’ll tell you what happened. My husband and I bought a set of six black leather dining room chairs from [Competitor, located next door]. The chairs were delivered today, and we were unwrapping the paper used to cover them. My husband’s hand slipped when he was cutting the wrappings, and the scissors went straight into the seat of the chair!”

Coworker: “Oh, no! Did the leather tear?”

Customer: “Unfortunately, yes. He could have kicked himself – the brand new chair was ruined. So I was just next door at [Competitor] to tell them what happened and see what they could do to help. They refused to do anything.”

Coworker: “No way!”

Customer: “Yes. I’m happy to pay for the fix, of course, but they wouldn’t even let me buy a piece of leather to patch up the seat of the chair. So I was wondering if you have any leather that you use for your furniture? As I said, I’m happy to pay for it. All I need is a small piece, about three inches squared.”

Coworker: “That’s surprising for [Competitor] to be so unaccommodating. You stay right there, ma’am. I’ll have a look at what’s in stock and I’ll be right back.”

(She goes to the sample drawers and starts rooting through them for anything that’s black leather. After a few minutes, she returns to the customer with five different samples which are each a slightly different shade.)

Coworker: “Here you go, ma’am. These are all the different leathers we have in stock at the moment – hopefully one of them will be close enough that it won’t be noticed when the seat is fixed.”

Customer: “Oh, thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver! How much for these?”

Coworker: “Don’t worry about it! These are free samples that we give out to customers, so there’s no charge at all.”

(I have rarely felt pride in the two-and-a-half years I spent in retail, but I definitely was proud of my coworker for gaining that customer’s business after our competitor completely failed her expectations. The customer didn’t buy anything that day, but she regularly came back to our store from then on. And *that* is what customer service is about.)