A Good Day

I haven't created my profile on this blog yet, but when I do you will see that I am a Wife, a Mother, a CASA, a Student, and a Real Estate Assistant. Most days I just have to be one or two of these. Some days I have to be all of them. Those are the toughest days.

Yesterday was one of those days. It started out with a court appearance for my CASA case, followed by a full day of work for Tim. But my kids don't care when I get home that I'm a little wiped out, and my husband was clearly exhausted from a day as Mr. Mom...last night, walking in my door at 6 p.m., I felt the full meaning of 'miles to go before I sleep'.

We made a family decision to go out to dinner at a restaurant in Ellicott City - Carrabba's. The food is really good, and we were both just TooTiredtoCook. Now, a late dinner in a darkened restaurant with a 5 and a 3 year old isn't necessarily relaxing, but we really like the food and we just thought we'd take our chances.

We were seated reasonably quickly at a table near the back. Almost right away I wished we'd been seated at a booth, as servers and bussers alike kept bumping our chairs. In the scheme of things, really NotaBigDeal, but since two booths opened up near us I asked our server if we could move. She said no problem and moved us over in a flash. Problem solved, back to dinner.

What happened next literally made my jaw drop. The owner of the restaurant saw us moving, checked in with our server, and then immediately came over, introduced himself, apologized and asked if there was anything he could do for us. I was absolutely floored.

It's been a long time since I've received proactive excellent customer service. Sure, there have been times when I've had to complain at a restaurant or retail facility, and it was handled quickly and fairly. But this experience was clearly above and beyond. We didn't have to complain, and the truth is, this wasn't even something to complain about. Our server addressed our concern handily. The owner stopping by our table truly turned a good dinner into a great experience.

Sometimes, there's the way Things should be, and the way Things are. Most of the time when it comes to customer service, those two things aren't even in the same neighborhood. It's a good day when those two Things meet. Thanks Jerry!