Too Much "Customer Service"

Years ago, for my then-girlfriend (now wife) and me, I bought some buffalo wings from my favorite wing place, Wingstop. It hadn't been long since I discovered the restaurant, and I wanted to find out the limits of its flavors. I already tasted and enjoyed the "original hot" variety, so I asked the lady who answered my call for, along with the rest of my order, 10 "Atomic" wings.

[pause]

Her: "Sir... Have you ever had our Atomic wings?"

Me: "No."

Her: "Well... They're really hot, and we don't give refunds."

Me: "Oookaaay. Maybe I'll just take 2.

This was a good example of honesty that saved me a lot of pain and suffering -- Those suckers were PAINFULLY hot. For several minutes after taking my first bite, I ran around like a madman trying to find a remedy. First soda. Then water. Then bread.

None of them did any good.

Milk finally worked. It was later explained to me that the fat content in milk helps break down whatever it is that causes that feeling you get in your mouth when you eat very spicy food.

I don't know if that's true, but it sounds good enough to repeat here. :)

The only time I ever got the Atomic wings again was after my (then six-year-old) son kept begging me to let him try one, in spite of my incessant (and undoubtedly to him, unreasonable and annoying) warnings that they were too hot for him to handle.

He does listen a bit better, now.

The flip side of TMI
Fast forward to last week. My wife called me from the mall. Apparently, while buying some post-Christmas items at Macy's the checkout person forgot to remove the little antitheft ink device on one of her jackets. While she was there, I asked if she could pick up a double-doozie from Great American Cookies. 

Being the generous type, she decided to buy one for everyone in the family. Her conversation with the clerk went something like this:

Clerk: Are you sure you want that many? Double Doozies® are $3.60 each.

Wife: Yes. I'm sure.

Clerk: You're not going to eat them all, are you? That's a lot.

Wife. [annoyed] They're not just for me. They're for my family.

I'm not sure what motivated the clerk to assume that 1) my wife couldn't afford the fare, and 2) she was going to eat them all herself and 3) if she were, it was any of the clerk's business, but what these examples do show is that there is a fine but distinct line between been helpful and being a busybody.

You are responsible for what you sell, but not what other people do. If you're not comfortable selling what your company sells, get out of the business and do something else. - Cam Beck   

Comments

[Tony Chimento]

I tasted an atomic wing. It reinforced everything I believed about hell - insanely hot and painful. Thanks for the laugh this morning.

[Paul Herring]

When I read about your atomic wing experience, I was drinking a Diet Dr. Pepper. I laughed so hard I think it came out of my nose.

[Jim Stroup]

Hello Cam,

They say the same about beauty; a barely perceptible difference between two people can make one widely recognized as attractive, and the other not.

It seems like you hit on the difference in the second case with the reference to not being comfortable selling the product. The person in the first example was familiar with the product and customer reactions to it, and was anticipating consequences. The second was just hectoring.

[Cam Beck]

Tony - I hear you.
Paul - Sorry about your Dr. Pepper. :)

Jim - Spot on.

You know, I can't imagine who would have the capacity to eat these Atomic wings regularly. But they sell them. Is it masochism or a severely hampered sense of taste and feeling?

[Lisa Braithwaite]

I got a good laugh out of this one! Especially the crazy clerk giving your wife the third degree about the number of cookies she was buying. What?