A few days ago I saw one of the bravest sights I’ve seen in a long time. On a small marquee outside a small business just west of 21^st and Gage, the owner had placed the following (I have removed the name to protect everyone involved, including me):

firstNAME lastNAME, I HAVE YOUR BAD CHECK.

Wow.

Now, I’ve seen lists of names of people who consistently write bad checks displayed beside cash registers, but that’s the first time I’ve seen a name displayed like that, right outside, 20 feet in the air, for everyone in Topeka to see. I gasped, literally, out loud. I laughed, partly in amusement but mostly in shock. And then I realized that, if the sign had that strong an effect on me, who has not written a bad check in 30 years, how emphatically would it impress a customer getting ready to walk in there and write a check she didn’t have enough money to cover?

What effect would it have on firstNAME lastNAME?

What the heck kind of customer relations is that, anyway?

In this country we have accepted the myth that the customer is always right. It is just not true. Most businesses understand and tolerate one insufficient-funds episode, especially if the customer makes it good right away. But customers who do not make their bad check good, or who write bad checks over and over, are committing theft, plain and simple. And my guess is that this was not the first bad check that firstNAME lastNAME had written at that little business.

Last time I looked, the message was still up there. Apparently firstNAME lastNAME has not yet got herself in there and forked over enough cash to pay for her previous purchase and to minimize her humiliation. Maybe she doesn’t care. Maybe she skipped town.

I wonder how many other customers, having written bad checks after firstNAME lastNAME shopped there, rushed in to redeem their checks before they were forced to see their own names on display right along with hers.

Now that I’ve had a few days to digest the situation, I’ve decided I admire that business owner with all my heart. I believe that sign was one of the best examples of customer relations I’ve ever seen. It will almost certainly not deter honest buyers from shopping there. They are, after all, in no danger of being humiliated as firstNAME lastNAME was, and as she deserved to be. The only people that sign will scare away are people who are driving up the price of products and services because you and I have to pay more to cover their theft. That brave sign will, in the long run, hold prices down for the rest of us.

Now, that’s great customer service. I think I may just stop by there on my way home and spend a little money.

KsSmallBiz.com, November 1, 2006

Posted by Sharon under Laughter | No Comments »