This Mom Appreciates Good Customer Service

My dh and I constantly complain about the lack of good customer service these days. It could be our increasing age that has made us more grumpy when things don't go our way as we deal with various businesses. Whatever the case, I really feel like most companies don't care much about pleasing their customers. I can't imagine this being a good business practice, so maybe they aren't able to motivate their employees to care about pleasing the customers. Who knows.

What I do know is that as a mother of two children, they are the new customers. Because when they are happy, mom is happy. And when mom is happy, mom can continue to shop without dragging a screaming child out of a grocery store, leaving her full cart in the frozen food aisle (not that this has ever happened).

If you make me feel like my children are not welcome at your place of business, it is most likely I will never return. And I will probably talk bad about you to all my friends. And I have a lot of friends so this should scare you.

If you feel you must follow my baby and I around to make sure she doesn't brake anything in your $1 store, I might throw wrapping paper at you and slam the contents of my coin purse on your counter while yelling like a crazy person that while my baby did not ruin your $1 roll of wrapping paper, I will pay you for it anyway just so you will leave me alone! (not that this ever happened and even if it did, there are no witnesses, especially no friend on the other end of the cell phone wondering what in the heck is going on).

Anyhoo, for the companies that have gone above and beyond in making me and my children feel welcome, I salute you. I would like to give shout out to a few specific businesses who have shown an excellence in customer service to this mom (and her children) in the past month:

Old Navy in Concord, CA - They have put together a kids play area in their fitting room that occupies children so mom can actually try on a few things.

Mimi's Cafe in Chino CA - I have since heard this kind of service is chain-wide, but I have only been to this one Mimi's and here is what I found. They bring out a snack plate for the kids right after you sit down -cheerios, little bits of fruit. Perfect to keep them calm until their food arrives. We also told our waiter it was our first time to Mimi's and he gave us four complimentary muffins to take home at the end of our meal. So Yummy!

Trader Joes, CA - While I can't even begin to count the ways in which I love Trader Joe's, I will say that the bribes they provide for my children (in the form of stickers, balloons, food and juice) make grocery shopping with my kids an enjoyable experience.

Westfield Mall, Santa Anita - I love the family lounge you have created with the excellent changing area and tiny toilets for my kids. And the free car strollers for rent allow me to shop a little longer (which is why you probably make them available--more shopping=more money) before my kids freak out and want to go to the mall playground or start screaming for a Happy Meal "Pleeeeeeasssssssse!".

My Chiropractic Office, CA - I showed up one day for an adjustment and the woman who ran the front desk (who was really great with kids) told me that today she was going to take care of them for the next 1/2 hour so I could have a massage. God bless you.

T Mobile - I just changed cell phone providers and cell phones. I had my two kids with me and as I pulled my pristine new phone out of it's box in front of the salesperson. I turned to my 18 month old daughter "This is mommy's. You can't ruin this one with your spit like you did my 2 previous phones". Right then the salesperson said, "I know exactly what you mean. I have a little boy." He told me to hold on a second while he ran to the back. He came back holding two "dummy" cellphones (the ones that looks like real ones, but they use them for displays). He handed one to each of my daughters and said "These are for you". The one he handed my 18 month old was the EXACT model as my new phone. BRILLIANT! It has been over a month and she hasn't touched mine yet.

Any other stories out there for excellence in customer service for moms? I would love to give them my business.