No Blood with My Sandwich, Please
Sounds like an episode of HBO’s “True Blood” - the one that features vampires - but it’s not.
In fact, it’s not even related to television or film. It happened at a local deli.
Some Servigistics colleagues and I walked over to a popular deli during our lunch hour to feast on some fresh subs. The line ran long and the number of employees low. The woman in front of me ordered a tuna sub on wheat, as did I, but the customer in front of her had ordered roast beef.
While the employee took the order from my colleague who ordered after me, the woman said aloud to any employee that would listen, “Uhm, excuse me. There’s blood on my sandwich!”
No joke.
Only one employee paid attention to her. With a look of annoyance, he moved over to face her behind the counter where the sub makers placed blocks of cheese and deli meat on the stainless steel slicer in order to prepare the subs.
She pointed to her tuna sub on wheat that was placed next to the meat slicer.
“Some blood from that beef fell on my sandwich,” she said.
“What?” the employee said.
“Blood,” she said. “On my tuna sandwich there,” and she pointed to her tuna sub.
He lifted the bun off the top of it. “I don’t see anything,” he said.
She insisted that she saw blood fall somewhere on her sandwich.
The employee let out an exasperated sigh and lifted the piece of cheese up from the tuna fish.
“I don’t see anything,” he insisted.
The woman tried one more time to explain that blood had spurted on her sandwich. It was obvious that she was NOT going to eat that sub. Instead of offering to make another one, the employee just looked at her, insisting that HE didn’t see any blood. I didn’t either, but she sure did. Real or not, the woman threw up her hands and walked out of the store.
No doubt she’d never return. And I’m sure once her friends and acquaintances heard of blood spattered sandwiches and poor customer service, no doubt they’d never return either.
When my colleagues and I finally sat down with our sandwiches, one of them said he’d never return to that deli after witnessing the spectacle. Blood or not, the employees’ reaction was inexcusable, he said.
How much business did this deli just lose? How spoiled had their brand become?
Certainly the loss will amount to more than the $4.29 tuna mini-sub. Blood or no blood, the employee should’ve offered to make her a fresh sandwich. A satisfied customer, positive word-of-mouth and relieved patrons would have been worth the cost.
Tags: Brand, Brand Protection, customer satisfaction, Customer Service, service, True Blood
October 14th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
You know, I have to tell you, I really enjoy this blog and the insight from everyone who participates. I find it to be refreshing and very informative. I wish there were more blogs like it. Anyway, I felt it was about time I posted, I?ve spent most of my time here just lurking and reading, but today for some reason I just felt compelled to say this.