I recently spent an extended period of time in a small Montana town with a surprising selection of gastronomic offerings; Mexican, Thai, Italian, Greek, wonderful bakeries and at least two creperies.

During a conversation with a local grad student she summarized her reluctance to visit one of the creperies by commenting "I prefer food without the anger, thank you very much".    Her comment referenced an employee who worked for one of the creperies and practiced the consistent habit of taking an order sans the glint of a smile (more likely an annoyed reluctance).  Pouring the batter on the griddle, this employee would proceed to slap the customer's chosen ingredients on the crepe with an attitude of anger and unrest.  Extra cheese??? (heavy sigh), Ham...Ka-whack!  Detaching the delicate creation from the griddle this employee would slap it on the plate and shove it towards the intended recipient before proceeding to delight yet another customer.....yes, this was consistent, predictable behavior, not just one bad day.

Wow; what a story and what a poignant end result;  a non-raving fan.  Looking for the learning in this story?   If you own a business where you and/or your employees interface with the public - be mindful of the attitude you portray to your customers.  Sure, all of us have challenging moments ( a recent Jet Blue flight attendant comes to mind) and times when we are not at our best, but in this case the behavior was so predictable that the patron opted to no longer frequent the business.

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