Overcorrect When Solving Problems

There’s a great line in the book Human Sigma by John H. Fleming and Jim Asplund:

Feelings are facts.

Customers use feelings to form their perception about the service they receive. These feelings are much stronger, and much more important than what actually happened.

Service failures can create strong feelings about poor service. Research shows that fixing the problem might not be enough to make the customer feel good again.

If we want our customer to feel great, we have to overcorrect.

Here are some examples:

A winery shipped wine to the wrong address. They fixed the problem by sending a new shipment to the correct address and overcorrected by letting the first recipient keep the wine they incorrectly received.

A cable repair technician fixed a glitch in the customer’s cable system and then overcorrected by showing the customer how to boost their wifi reception.

A technical support agent helped a customer access a locked account and then overcorrected by showing the customer some new features that would save her time.

In each of these cases, the customer went from feeling bad about the problem to feeling great about the extra level of service they received. All because of the overcorrect.

Be Careful With Extras

We're taught to always go the extra mile. You can't go wrong with giving a customer a little extra, right?

Well, sometimes you can.

• A free dessert at a restaurant can backfire if the guests are already stuffed or watching their diet. Do they eat something they don’t want or reject such a nice gift?

• An upgrade to the deluxe package at the car wash can backfire if the customer is in a hurry and finds the smell of air freshener to be sickening.

• Upgrading an airline passenger's seat to an exit row can backfire if it separates her from the rest of her family.

Try to see things through your customer's eyes before giving your customer a little extra. And, when in doubt, ask them first. 

It shows you care and it might help avoid an uncomfortable situation.

Top 5 Next Level Customer Service Posts of 2013

Top 5 Posts of 2013

For my last post of the year, I thought I'd take a moment to review the Top 5 posts on the Next Level Customer Service blog in 2013. And, I'd like to offer just one customer service prediction for 2014.

Top 5 Posts

#5 A service failure reveals surprising customer service trends

It all started when my wife began texting me updates about her delayed United flight. And kept texting. All day. 

Since this was my first post of the year, I compared her experience to a few customer service trends I had recently read about. It turns out her experience fit quite nicely. Looking back almost a year later, I don't see any of these trends going away. 

Read more...

#4 Five reasons why angry customers don't complain

Customer complaints are a valuable source of information. They let us know when a customer is unhappy so we can try to retain their business. Complaints can also serve as an early warning system that helps prevent service failures by allowing us to fix small problems before they become big ones.

A lack of complaints doesn’t mean things are going well. This post explores five reasons why customers won't let you know when there's a problem. (You may also want to read my follow-up post about why employees don't pass along these complaints.)

Read more...

#3 Have companies defined outstanding customer service

This post summarized a survey I ran in May this year to find out if companies had created their own unique definition of outstanding customer service. The results weren't so great, but they reflected a problem I'd seen many times. Companies and leaders were trying to be good at service, but they couldn't describe to their employees what "good" looked like.

Some companies try to cut corners by emulating a successful firm. One CIO told me he wanted the internal help desk for his global company to be more like the Apple Store. I asked this CIO if he had ever heard of Ron Johnson. He hadn't. (Spoiler alert - Ron Johnson is proof that not every company can be like the Apple Store.)

Read more...

#2 Never reward employees for outstanding survey scores

We've all been hustled by a retail employee trying to get us to fill out a survey. If you stop and think, you'll realize this only happens when the interaction has been positive. I've yet to see an employee say, "Well if you're so upset, why don't you fill out this survey?"

It turns out that rewarding employees for outstanding survey scores takes the focus away from outstanding service and puts it squarely on outstanding scores. There's a difference. Like the barista practically begging a customer to fill out a survey by saying, "Pleaaaaaase fill it out - we're sooooooo graded on this."

Read more...

#1 How quickly should you respond to an email

My annual email survey showed that we expect faster and faster responses to email communication. This is funny because I know quite a few people who seem to be getting slower and slower at responding.

The scariest part? How quickly we expect a response from a co-worker. 

Read more...

A small prediction

One of my favorite posts of the year was one I wrote for the Salesforce blog. It may have had the fewest readers of any post I wrote for them, but I don't care. I think it's a message people don't necessarily want to hear.

The post was about something called Directed Attention Fatigue. Essentially, our brains are getting worn out and tired from constant stiumlation. One psychologist likened the impact to having ADD.

So that's my prediction. In 2014, I think more people are going to want to hear about Directed Attention Fatigue. Just as soon as people realize they're giving themselves ADD.

Are you still reading? OK, here's a link to the post. 

Here's what your contact center agents are really thinking

Do you know what your contact center agents are thinking?

A study from BenchmarkPortal reveals new insights into what contact center agents are really thinking.

The Agent Voices study was based on over 5,000 surveys with contact center agents in North America. It reveals that overall job satisfaction among contact center agents is 76.2 percent. Not surprisingly, the thing agents like best about their jobs is working with customers.

There are a few interesting highlights that deserve attention from contact center managers.

New agents need more support

A whopping 92.9 percent of agents gave their new hire training program high marks, but only 60.8 percent felt their transition from training to the contact center floor was adequately supported.

The training program itself may be part of the problem.

Call center agents must simultaneously use a wide variety of skills to do their jobs. This may include recalling product knowledge, navigating a variety of software programs, and interacting with the customer in an appropriate way. Many call centers train their new hires on one skill at a time, which makes them easier to learn.

Unfortunately, this method can also cause agents to experience a form of mental gridlock when they first try to use all the skills together at one time. This typically happens as agents make the transition from training to the contact center floor.

Call centers can overcome this problem and speed up new hire training by moving to scenario-based training. I’ve used it to cut new hire training time by as much as 50 percent while still improving new hires’ performance. You can learn more about this approach from an article I wrote for ICMI earlier this year.

Agents want a better work environment

Most call center agents really want to do a great job for their customers and 83.8 percent said they’re proud to work for their organization. The survey also showed that call center agents generally gave their co-workers high marks and felt a strong sense of teamwork.

These results were tempered by some signs that work environment needs improvement in many centers. One of the most striking findings was that only 44.6 percent of agents agreed that their working atmosphere is usually optimistic and positive.

One explanation is the way responsibility is structured in many contact centers. Agents often solve problems caused by another department, such as a shipping error made in the warehouse or a bug in a new software program. They must also frequently rely on someone in another department to implement the solution. 

It can be discouraging to repeatedly face problems that appear to be outside of your control. Many contact center agents are susceptible to a condition called Learned Helplessness where poor service seems like a foregone conclusion. Agents experiencing Learned Helplessness can stop trying to serve their customers if they believe their efforts will be fruitless.

Good relationships with supervisors, but not executives

A contact center agent who works for a financial services firm recently told me that executives routinely ignore contact center agents when they see them in the elevator. This may be a wider trend - only 56 percent of agents said they trust the messages from senior management.

Things are a little rosier on the relationship front when it comes to agents’ direct supervisor. A total of 77.6 percent reported they had a good working relationship with their direct supervisor.

The lesson here is executives must be visible in the contact center. They need to take time to listen to their frontline agents and explain their strategies and policies. Acknowledging employees in the elevator probably wouldn't hurt either.

Agents don’t feel heard

A majority of contact center agents don’t feel heard. Only 39.1 percent felt their leaders exhibited effective listening skills and only 45.7 felt their opinion was valued.

This may help explain why many employees don’t pass along feedback to management. I uncovered this trend earlier this year in a post titled Why Employees Don't Pass Along Customer Complaints.

Customer service needs work

Agents tend to feel their own teams do a pretty good job on customer service, but the company as a whole needs work. Only 47 percent felt that decisions in their organization were aimed at achieving the highest possible level of quality for their customers, but 71.3 percent felt their customers could trust them.

This disparity may be a product of two things. One, contact centers can sometimes be an outlier where other parts of the organization aren’t nearly as focused on service. Anothe possibility is contact center agents may suffer from the Dunning-Krueger effect where they overrate their own ability in comparison to others. 

What do you think?

If you are a contact center agent, or manage contact center agents, it would be great to hear from you. Are these results true for your center? Or, is your environment a little different?

Corporate culture's hidden influence on customer service

Culture has unseen influence on our behavior.

This post originally appeared on the Salesforce Blog. You can also read my latest Salesforce blog post, "How to Satisfy and Delight Your Customers."

Camille was a guest service associate working in a hotel. She had natural service instincts and had received hospitality training. Despite her qualifications, Camille routinely provided poor service.

She did it deliberately.

Camille didn’t enjoy providing poor service. She felt terrible every time she did something she knew would disappoint or frustrate one of the hotel’s guests. But she did it anyway.

Why would an intelligent and capable person work against their own instincts and values? The answer is corporate culture. 

Go Along to Get Along

Camille’s hotel had a toxic culture. Associates were disengaged. Management was ineffective. Guests were viewed with disdain. Going against this culture would cause Camille to be ostracized by her co-workers. 

Camille made the conscious decision to go along with the hotel’s cultural norms so she could get along with her co-workers. Research and practical experience suggests that most of us would do exactly what Camille did.

Here’s an example from a simple exercise I’ve facilitated many times. I ask my audience to answer a few review questions that cover my presentation so far. They’re also told that a few additional tasks will be displayed on the screen while they’re answering the review questions. I emphasize that answering the review questions is the first priority but ask the audience to complete the additional tasks as well.

The first additional task appears on the screen fifteen seconds after the review activity begins:

“Switch pens with someone.”

Most people instantly stop what they’re doing to switch pens with another participant. Some people interrupt other participants and tell them “We’re supposed to switch pens.” Still others find their pen suddenly snatched from their hand by someone a bit too eager to complete the task.

The exercise continues like this for several more minutes until the review questions are answered. No matter that I told them to prioritize answering the questions over completing the additional tasks. Participants consistently stop what they’re doing when each new task is displayed on the screen. 

They just can’t help themselves. Despite people’s initial intention to focus on the review questions, social pressure makes it almost impossible. Even the people who try to stay on task are verbally or even physically cajoled into doing the wrong thing.

My little exercise is hardly new. Psychologist Solomon Ash ran a novel experiment in 1951 where he found that social pressure caused people to answer to simple question incorrectly. You can see an excellent re-enactment on YouTube.

Customer service leaders can prevent social pressure from derailing customer service by setting clear expectations, actively encouraging good performance, and quickly correcting poor performance.

I like to give participants a second try when I run the review question activity. This time, we cover set of behavioral expectations before we begin. For example, participants agree that they will ignore the additional tasks until they answer all of the questions. 

An interesting change occurs in round two. There is now social pressure to do the right thing. A few participants still can’t help themselves and stop what they’re doing whenever a new task appears on the screen. But this time around, it is much easier for other participants to ignore them since the majority of people are intently focused on answering the questions in line with our agreement. Some people even remind these over-eager participants that they’re supposed to be answering the review questions first.

Unconscious Social Norming

I interviewed Camille for my book, Service Failure, and included her story in a chapter called “Conformity is Contagious.” It was courageous of her to give an honest assessment of her work performance. It was also unusual to find someone like her because employees often aren’t aware that culture is influencing their behavior.

Culture is often developed as groups of people co-develop social norms. These norms can be altered as new people join the team. A new employee might create a divisive atmosphere. That in turn might cause the team’s performance to drop. Good employees might leave and be replaced by more bad apples. Soon, service levels begin to decline. This leads to more angry customers which in turn makes everyone’s job even harder and less enjoyable.

The unconscious impact of social norms was first discovered in 1935 by psychologist Muzafer Sherif. He conducted an experiment where people were placed in one end of a dark room with a tiny point of light displayed at the other end of the room. A phenomenon called the autokinetic effect makes the light appear to move even though it really isn’t.

Subjects were asked to estimate how far the light had traveled. When acting alone, their estimates varied widely. When they were placed in a group, subjects quickly established a group norm. Interviews conducted after the experiment revealed that subjects weren’t aware that their perceptions were influenced by the other people in their group. 

How do you ensure customer service teams develop positive social norms? 

The key is to be deliberate about the culture you want. Define it. Identify the types of behaviors that match and don’t match. Constantly support and reinforce these behaviors with employees.

There's a model called the Employee Engagement Cycle that identifies several specific places where an organization can deliberately influence culture:

• Recruiting: hire people who will be a positive influence.
• On-boarding: show new hires how to be a part of our culture.
• Development: remind employees of cultural values through regular training.
• Evaluation: include cultural alignment in the employee evaluation process.
• Exits: encourage employees to leave the organization if they don’t fit the culture.

Camille’s Conclusion

There was a happy ending to Camille’s story. She left the hotel with the toxic culture and joined another hotel. Her new employer had a culture that valued outstanding service and Camille felt much more comfortable. She fit in by being herself.

People sometimes ask me if customer service skills come naturally or can they be acquired. I think Camille’s example proves it’s a bit of both. She had the natural skills to be great, but she had to be in the right environment to use them. Once she found that environment, Camille was able to build on the skills she already had and become even better at service.

Engaging customers via social media? Get a personality.

What's your social media personality?

Almost four years ago, I ran a little experiment to see how companies engaged their customers via Facebook and Twitter. The results were dismal.

Fast forward a few years and surly we’ve got this social media thing figured out, right?

Not really. According to Socialbakers, brands are answering only 60 percent of customer questions on Facebook and only 38 percent on Twitter. Not surprisingly, Zendesk’s 2013 Q3 customer service benchmark ranks Twitter and Facebook as the two worst service channels in terms of overall satisfaction.

Perhaps these brands are following the sage advice from Mark Twain (or was it Lincoln?) who said:

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.

If you’ve seen this story about Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona, you’ll understand why keeping quiet on social media can be a good idea. Their Facebook meltdown was epic. 

There are some brands who do it right

Some brands do get it. They engage customers with a bit of personality and flair. They use social media to help solve problems, generate positive word of mouth, and increase customer engagement. Here are a few examples:

Cuvaison Estate Wine was one of the brands in my original experiment. I’m happy to say they’re still doing a great job. Their outstanding wine is complimented by a social media personality that is fun, upbeat, and inclusive. Here’s an example:

Post by Cuvaison.

American Airlines does a great job of responding quickly. Their personality is empathetic and helpful. They handle complaints with class even when passengers are seemingly unaware that severe weather has cancelled thousands of flights across the country. 

@emilysteichen Oh no, Emily. We're truly sorry your flight has been cancelled. Have you been rebooked?

— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) December 10, 2013

And then there’s Tesco Mobile. They’re re-writing the book on dealing with social media complaints with a an edgy, snarky personality. I'll admit to reading their tweets purely for the entertainment value. Check out this example:

@JayFeliipe Are you really in a position to be turning girls away?

— Tesco Mobile (@tescomobile) October 16, 2013

It gets even better. They recent had an epic Twitter conversation where they looped in other UK brands. Buzzfeed called it the best Twitter conversation you’ll read today. Check out this gem from the exchange: 

@RealJaffaCakes @YorkshireTea Maybe you two should get a room... we bet you're always dunkin' your biscuit in their tea.

— Tesco Mobile (@tescomobile) November 13, 2013

A word of caution

There’s one potential downside to having a great social media personality. You’ll be encouraging customers to air their gripes in public if you are funny and helpful online, but uncaring and clueless via traditional service channels. Do a check and make sure your service channels don’t have multiple personalities. 

Five New Ways to Quickly Improve Customer Service

There aren't any shortcuts in customer service. Or are there?

There’s no magic pixie dust that improves customer service quickly and easily. Or is there?

Well... It turns out there are a few shortcuts.

I recently hosted a webinar to share some of my latest customer service research. It focused on five ways companies could quickly take their customer service to the next level with minimal expense or effort.

This is a follow-up post with links to additional information and resources. 

Webinar Link

You may want to start by watching the 47 minute webinar. (Secret tip - you can even jump ahead and fast-forward.) You can access a recording by clicking on the link below:

Webinar: Five New Ways to Quickly Improve Customer Service

#1: Outstanding customer service must be defined

If you asked your employees to describe outstanding customer service, would you get a consistent answer? 

The answer is "Yes" at companies with a customer-focused culture. They have a shared definition of outstanding customer service that acts as a compass to keep everyone pointed in the same direction.

Helpful links:

• Blog post re-capping my research 
• DIY tool to create your own definition of outstanding customer service

#2: Get customers to learn your name

Customers’ perceptions of service quality improve when they know you and like you. Helping them get to know you by name is a good way to ensure they look at you as an individual and not just “that customer service person.” 

Here are a few tips:

• Introduce yourself to customers
• Call your customers by name so they feel more comfortable doing the same
• Follow-up with customers to remind them who you are

Helpful link:

• Blog post re-capping my research

#3 Make a great first impression, or recover fast & powerfully

First impressions play an important role in framing a customer’s perceptions of service quality. 

• Good first impressions are neutral and are unlikely to be remembered.
• Great first impressions create a lasting positive perception.
• Poor first impressions can linger unless there's a fast and powerful recovery

Helpful links:

• Blog post re-capping my research
• My guest post on the CX Journey Blog describing how multiple experiences influence a customer’s overall perception.

#4 Customers inflate wait times by an average of 36 percent

We all know that customers hate to wait. They often perceive the wait time is even longer than it really is. Smart companies identify factors that influence wait time perceptions and help customers feel like the wait is actually shorter!

Helpful link:

• Blog post on “Jedi mind tricks” for reducing wait time perceptions

#5 Chronic multitasking is frying our brains!

I took a poll during the webinar to see what else people were working on in addition to tuning in to me. The average participant admitted to engaging in 5 or more activities while attending the webinar! 

It’s natural to want to multitask in our busy lives. Unfortunately, a growing body of research suggests this is unproductive and even unhealthy. 

Helpful link:

• Blog post re-capping my research on why we need to take a break

Advertising great service is like Al Capone's Vault

Beware of advertising great customer service.

On April 21, 1986 an estimated 30 million people tuned in to watch Geraldo Rivera host The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults. At the time, it was the largest-ever audience for a television special.

A secret vault purportedly belonging to the infamous gangster Al Capone had been discovered at Chicago’s Lexington Hotel while the hotel was undergoing renovations. Rivera was on hand to oversee the opening of the vault.

Speculation about what the vault might contain ran wild. Would there be treasure?Historical artifacts? The bodies of Capone's victims?

A medical examiner was even on hand just in case human remains were found. The IRS was standing by too in hopes of recovering some of the $800,000 in taxes that Capone still owed.

What would they find?!

The great reveal finally occurred live on national television. All that was found was an empty bottle and some debris. The much-hyped show was a bust. 

Companies should be wary of creating their own Al Capone’s Vault when they advertise great customer service.

United Airlines launched its Flyer-Friendly advertising campaign in September. You can view the television spots on United’s website while a carefully edited stream of positive Twitter messages scrolls to the right. 

In reality, United is far from actually being Flyer-Friendly. Bruce Temkin wrote an outstanding analysis on his blog that showed United’s customer service rankings are still quite poor.  On a personal note, my most popular blog post of 2012 was a collection of text messages from my wife as she endured a comically inept delay while traveling on United.

United isn’t the only company to advertise amazing service that doesn’t exist. DHL ran an advertising campaign promoting their superior customer service despite lagging far behind their competitors. They ran these ads right up until they pulled out of the US market for express shipping because their poor customer service and operational woes left them unprofitable. 

Circuit City, Chase, and American Airlines have all tried similar tactics. “We have great service” is also an advertising staple for small companies. Rarely are these claims actually true.

A better way to spend your money

Advertising is generally directed at acquiring new customers. Companies with lousy service have to constantly solicit new customers because their current customers keep leaving.

These companies would be much better off redirecting that advertising money towards fixing their customer service. 

Here are a few reasons why:

It’s easier to sell to customers you already have. A recent blog post by Colin Shaw shared this staggering statistic: 

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20% – Marketing Metrics.

A 2013 study commissioned by Zendesk found that service quality has a clear impact on customers’ buying behavior: 

• 52 percent of customers increased their purchases due to good service
• 59 percent of customers stopped buying altogether due to bad service

The same Zendesk report found that many customers are more than willing to advertise your customer service on your behalf:

• 95 percent share bad experiences
• 87 percent share good experiences
• 58 percent share their more experiences more often today than five years ago

Today’s customers are pretty smart. They’ll quickly figure out if your advertising claims are true or false. Don’t be Al Capone’s Vault. 

How to get better service while Christmas shopping

A few simple tips can help you enjoy your holiday shopping.

The movies make Christmas shopping seem so delightful. Christmas carolers spread joy while everyone sings along and sips hot chocolate. Families cavort in their yuletide glee. Kris Kringle helpfully suggests that you can get better skates over at Gimbels. 

Reality is often a bit different.  

First, there are the crowds. As I noted in a post earlier this year, crowds are like kryptonite for customer service. There’s something about throngs of people that makes everyone a little less friendly. 

Crowds lead to lines, which sour our moods even more. I recently read an article in the New York Times that suggests people overestimate their time spent waiting in line by as much as 36 percent. Ugh.

There’s also the pressure to get the right gift at the right price right now. This pressure leaves us little time for hot chocolate-sipping, cavorting, or unscheduled trips over to Gimbels.

It’s a recipe for disaster, yet we do it every year. Will this year be any different?

Before you brave the masses, consider these tips that can help you actually enjoy your experience. 

Be the best customer

If Christmas shopping sucks, working retail during the holidays sucks a lot more. You may spend a couple of miserable hours at the mall dealing with rude shoppers who get in your way, but the people serving you spend all day dealing with the same folks. Then they get to stay late and clean up the mess, only to come back tomorrow and do it all over again. And again.

It’s natural for retail associates to feel a little downtrodden at this time of year.

Why not help spread some holiday cheer instead by being the best customer? This is the person who exercises just a little bit of patience. Who smiles and says, “Thank you.” Who sincerely wishes the people who serve them a happy holiday. 

This person is like a breath of fresh air to customer service employees. Employees will go out of their way to provide this person with better service, if for no other reason than to avoid all the miserable people competing for their attention. 

“I’ll be right with you, Ms. Crab. It will be just a moment, Mr. Grump. I’m helping another customer right now.” And that VIP customer will be you if you take a moment to spread some holiday cheer.

Don’t follow the crowd

Holiday shopping crowds are pretty predictable. Going shopping the day after Thanksgiving, Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and Friday after work are all for crowd-loving masochists. 

You can get much better customer service if you avoid the hordes. Get to stores when they first open and associates are fresh. Order online whenever you can. Do your after work shopping earlier in the week.

Try to avoid the crowds when you do venture out. Plan to park in the back of the lot rather than slowly stalk pedestrians in hopes of getting that perfect front row parking space. You’ll get in a few extra steps, which conveniently cancels out all of those delicious holiday treats. Plus, you’ll be a lot less creepy. 

Choose neighborhoods that are a little less crowded. There are three Best Buy stores within 15 minutes of my house, but one of them is always a lot less crowded than the other two. I go there to get the same stuff with much better service and far fewer hassles.

Don’t eat at the mall. Yes, the Cheesecake Factory is delicious. It’s just not wait-for-two-hours delicious. Avoid the crowds and fuel up before hitting the stores. (Save room for a hot chocolate so you have something to sip while you enjoy the caroling.)

Be reasonable

There’s something about the pressures of holiday shopping that makes customers unreasonable. 

Unreasonableness only amplifies negative experiences. It causes people to search for a scapegoat for their self-inflicted problems. People begin to dwell on anger and blame rather than accept what is and move on.

Yesterday, I had lunch with my wife and parents in a busy restaurant in Los Angeles. The fact that they were going to be busy should have surprised no one. They were located near the epicenter of the LA Auto Show, a Clippers game, and the American Music Awards. 

Even so, the restaurant was a little unprepared for the onslaught and their service was slower than it should have been. Orders took a long time to come out of the kitchen. More than a few orders were wrong. We noticed the manager intervening with a lot of guest issues.

One diner decided to handle things by storming into the kitchen and yelling at the cooks, her server, and anyone else within earshot. The manager finally got her to return to her table, where she huffed for a few more minutes before she and her dining companion stood up and walked out. 

The epic injustice, as overheard by everyone in the restaurant, was that she had been waiting 45 minutes for her food to arrive. This doesn’t qualify as great service and can’t really be defended. However, her very un-pragmatic approach amplified the problem. The net result was she never got her meal and she likely had to wait quite a bit longer to eat since every other restaurant in the neighborhood was just as crowded.

My table experienced similar slowness and an undercooked entree to boot. We handled things a bit differently by calmly and politely raising the issue with our server and then the manager when he happened to stop by our table. They took the offending entrée off our bill plus an additional 10 percent for our trouble. We spent the extra time enjoying each other’s company rather than dwelling on the restaurant’s service problems. 

Well, we did laugh about the lady who stormed into the kitchen and yelled at everyone. How can you not be amused by that?

Happy Holidays

The holidays should about giving as much as they are about receiving. This principle should be extended to service and civility. Give the people who serve you and your fellow customers good cheer and you'll likely get quite a bit more in return.

If you’d like even more holiday shopping tips, you can read my posts from 2012, 2011, and 2010.