A good customer experience

Last night, my wife and I decided to go shopping for flooring for the soon-to-be-crawling Oliver's playroom and a part for the soon-to-be-rehung kitchen fan. We stopped by Home Depot on Hanley. We couldn't find the part for the fan, so we went to the flooring depertmant and checked out their selection. We couldn't find anyone to help us and ended up just checking prices. Then on a whim, we decided to head down the street to the new Lowe's on Hanley. We went in the store and buzzed around the fan aisle again not finding anyone there or our part. Then I hit the call button and the goodness began. A very helpful employee named Antonio showed up and helped my wife look for the part in question. He didn't find it, but I can say that every nearby aisle was scoured for said part. Giving up we headed over to flooring, which was actually Antonio's department. I asked a couple of questions about the difference between two types of flooring. Not only did Antonio know what he was talking about (not a frequent occurance at the big chain stores), but he took the time to tell me about each type of flooring available. When my wife and I decided that we wanted the one type of flooring that they had successfully clearanced out, Antonio was there offering to call stores in other areas to get us what we needed. Eventually Oliver's patience ran out before we were able to get the flooring ordered, but Antonio said that he'd check on it the next day. I was so impressed with his performance that I found his manager and told him that it had been a good experience.

On the way out of the store, I reflected that I felt good for a) having had a good customer experience and b) taking the extra step to make sure that Antonio would be rewarded for his diligence.