The little role you play
I wasn't "supposed" to be at work again. I was there for a shift supervisor meeting, and then I wanted to spend some extra time with my ASM. As we came back from lunch, one of my partners was sitting on the patio. She told me that the group of people inside the store were the family of one of our regulars that passed away. I put up my stuff and got my assistant to tend to the 1:00pm interview as I went to talk to the family.
You see Starbucks was one of this things that Stephanie just did all the time. I could tell because her husband and friends all had Starbucks tumblers too. Stephanie's husband said that you'd sometimes see him more than her because he would go out and get Starbucks for her. Her mom showed me a button with Stephanie's picture and their dog. They would swing by Starbucks and Petsmart.
So why were they at my Starbucks? Because they were trying to ease some pain, and they remembered always going to our Starbucks with Stephanie. We were a piece of that healing process. Something to bring back some good memories. Stephanie's mom and I got to chat a little. I thanked them for coming in and letting us be a part of their lives. She thanked us for what we mean and the simple gesture of offering and asking if we could do anything for them. I told them how it was an honor to get to meet them and to get to serve people like Stephanie every day. We talked about how at the core, it's not the coffee and all, but rather the people - and we would miss Stephanie as well.
I can't begin to express how that entire conversation felt. Instead of "the manager" at the Starbucks, I felt like part of the family. I practically lost my composure with the family. I have a series of stories I share with partners during First Impressions and the Customer Care module about how we're in the people business serving coffee. This is definitely something that I add in there. We get a few people at our store that are visiting relatives at the hospital or going to the funeral home up the road. But it's another thing when your every day regular passes away - even more when their every day job is saving other people's lives . . .
I didn't expect any of that today when I was going to work. I was just expecting some great development conversations with my ASM and giving some good energy and excitement to them. We talk about our customers and what they're saying or thinking of us in our customer voice surveys. Sure that's part of what I'm rated on, but today's experience reminds me once again of the real reason it matters how we connect with our customers - that human connection.
