I heard over the walkie that a customer needed help by the pillows. I was in a neighboring department so I responded. The customer was looking for king size pillows but we didn’t have any. She of course asked if we had any in the back. I knew for a fact that we don’t have any pillows in the back. I told her, “No we don’t have any in the back, I’m sorry.” I apologized like I’ve been trained to anytime a customer doesn’t get what they want or if I’m too slow or if the sky is cloudy. It’s just something we as customer service are expected to do. Most people either don’t acknowledge it or dismiss it with , “It’s all right.”
This woman however said, “It’s ok, it’s not your fault.” It’s not my fault. I can’t remember the last time a customer said that to me. It was shocking to hear that. It’s not my fault that we’ve sold all the king size pillows and haven’t received any more in our shipments. These events, totally out of my control, that I routinely apologize for are not my fault.
It’s nice to be reminded that, as much as I say sorry for things out of my control, I really am not at fault.