Today, we visited my wife’s favorite local coffee shop. She goes there often. Many of the workers know her. They also know that she usually orders a vanilla latte, a honey lavender latte, or a peppermint latte depending on the season. On this particular trip, she ordered a plain latte.
While we were waiting, they were making her latte and came over and said, “Because we’re so nerdy, we noticed that you didn’t get a flavor in your latte today. Was that on purpose?” They wanted to make sure there wasn’t a misunderstanding or mistype in the order because they knew my wife’s normal preference.
I love that. It says we care. We see you, we know you, we appreciate you.
The part I didn’t like was the “Because we’re so nerdy…”. That was obviously to make her feel comfortable, but I don’t think apologizing for good service is necessary. Restating what you are doing is better. An example, “Because we are crazy about quality service, and we know you normally order a flavored latte, I want to make sure the order wasn’t input incorrectly.”
When you are going above and beyond, don’t apologize for it, point it out. I’ve been guilty of this myself over the years, but I’m improving and you can too.
None of this is Right 