An Open Letter Of Apology To Nordstrom Counter Staff
My friend and fellow speaker Laurie Brown recently posted the letter below to her Facebook account. I think it is both very funny, and sadly, all too familiar. With her permission, here it is:
Hi,
I am writing to you to apologize for my rude behavior yesterday. My girlfriend and I were looking for makeup, came up to your counter and interrupted the conversation that the three of you were having with one another. Yes, my mother raised me better than that. She did tell me it was disrespectful to interrupt a conversation. But, you know me, I just had to find out about the eye shadow your company sells.
Now, I am sure your conversation must have been important because you were so engrossed that you never even saw us standing there. Maybe you were talking about how Michigan, our state, has been so badly hurt by the recession—perhaps more than any other state in the nation. Or, maybe you were commenting on how Nordstrom, usually very busy, was essentially empty of customers that day. Maybe you were chatting about how if business didn’t pick up, you might all lose your jobs. Whatever it was, we could clearly see your conversation was way more important than us.
The nice thing is, that although we interrupted you, once one of you pointed to the makeup we asked about, you went right back to your conversation.
Here is my promise to you: I will never, ever, ever, bother you again. You can count on it.
Best wishes
Laurie
Hilarious!
What I love is that this is exactly how I feel in these situations. You are standing there, waiting to be helped, and every employee you can find is completely ignoring you while they gab away with friends or co-workers. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
In the grand scheme of things, is Laurie’s decision to not revisit the Nordstrom’s makeup counter going to impact Nordstrom’s sales? Not really. But what about 10 Lauries? 100? 1000?? If it’s happening to her, you better believe it’s happening to others. And as she points out in her letter, the economy (especially in that area) is so bad, no business can afford to lose customers due to simply fixable customer service errors.
Take a look at the service you or your employees are providing. Are the basics (like not gabbing with co-workers while customers are waiting) covered? If not, re-train, re-hire, re-educate, or re-do-whatever-the-heck-you-need-to to fix the situation.
Otherwise, you may find yourself on the end of a Laurie Brown email someday…
(You can learn more about Laurie and read some more of her writing on her customer service and sales tips blog and on her customer service, sales, and presentation skills training website)

About
By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+
2 Responses to “An Open Letter Of Apology To Nordstrom Counter Staff”
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That’s surprising, and disappointing – Nordstrom’s is supposed to be famous for customer service. There’s the old yarn about the tire refund: http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/nordstrom.asp
Ryan, I heard that story, but about a toaster, and I thought it was true! I heard it as an example of the value of satisfied customers. The store would rather pay the refund price for a toaster they never sold, than have a disgruntled customer complaining to all his friends.
Haha, this is a great letter. Two quick stories it made me think of:
1. The Radio Shack employee who, when I asked him for help while he was playing video games, said, “just a sec” and finished his level.
2. The Train Information lady at 30th Street Station just a few days ago. I went up and asked her about an Amtrak train, and she said, “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask them?” THEM? Aren’t YOU them?? She handed me a schedule and told me to just call the number. It’s not just that she didn’t know the information. It’s that she acted like I was crazy for even asking her a question about train information.