A little kindness......

   A few days before the shop moved to our new location, the show room was a mess. There was very little to be found. I knew the guys were on their way to load the shelves for the Vera handbags and I just tossed them in the corner to sort and pack in moving boxes later. The guys had just left when in walked a customer and wanted to return a purse she bought for a friend over a month ago. The store policy which is and was still posted in more than one place seemed not to interest her. The rules didn't apply to her that day.
   I explained to her the policy and showed it to her and repeated many times her purchase was actually over 60 days. Still didn't phase her and she was ignoring what I was saying and to be quite frank very overbearing and just plane rude. She explained to me how many purses she has bought and she always orders her flowers from us. I thanked her for her allowing us to serve her needs and how much we appreciate her business. She finally admitted that she knew there was a return policy but she was a good customer and if I didn't allow her to get her money back she would never step foot in our business again. I explained how important she was to us and I would hate to loose her as a good customer over a purse. I listened to her for the next few minutes with a smile on my face and trying my best to help her......"Lord give me understanding with this woman"  I must have showed her 20 purses, she responded, "to big, to small, to much color, to dark, don't like the strap.
   I tried one more time saying, I can give you a gift certificate of the full amount and you can come back at your convenience and check out the new patterns that will be released in the next few weeks. About that time she said, maybe I do like this one, and she headed to the check out counter. Her purchase was less than the original bag and I started to write out her gift certificate. "What are you doing? I don't want a gift certificate" After another 10 minutes she found something close to the amount spent and I sacked her up. Actually she came out $10 dollars ahead as I showed her the receipt. Didn't matter to her, her reply to me was, "this has been very stressful to me". My reply," it's been a pleasure to serve you and it's been stressful on both of us."
   Today she was back. As I came in from the back room I seen her talking to Heather. She called out my name and said she wanted to speak with me. She had tears in her eyes, she wanted to apologize for the way she spoke to me a few days ago. She was ashamed of herself and that she was wrong in demanding that she be treated different just because she shops with us all the time. She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Jesus was not very proud of my actions that day". I am so sorry and will you accept my apology? I gave her a hug and said I sure will. She told me she was proud of me for taking the high road with her and that I never lost my temper and I kept smiling. I thanked her again with another hug and we talked for the next few minutes. One more hug and she was one her way.
   A little kindness goes a long way......