Boston & Beyond
Subscribe
Sign up for email updates on new blog posts.
Server Snapshots
Support Server Not Servant
To encourage more blog posts, and expedite the publication of the Server Not Servant book, please consider a (non-deductible) contribution. Thank you.
The Book
Search
Archives
Service Heroes
By: Patrick Maguire
Book Chapter: Human-to-Human Service
Posted: 10/14/2010
I recently read a blog post on FohBoh (a great restaurant industry site) by Bill Campion, a regular contributor. Here’s an excerpt:
Recently my cell phone stopped working so I got roped into purchasing a new one. It’s basically the same model which doesn’t mean much because I barely knew how to operate the old one. In any event I had to go in to ask a few questions on standard operation procedures.
I usually won’t enter the store until I case the joint – that’s police talk I learned from watching CSI… Seriously what I do is walk back and forth in front of the store to see if my service hero is working… and if she isn’t I don’t go in. If she is working I go in and ask for her by name. I don’t care if I have to wait 20 minutes. Dealing with her is well worth it.
I thought about the term ‘service hero’ yesterday as I was leaving Shaw’s Supermarket at The Prudential Center in Boston after receiving great service from Marcus in the Meat Dept. I’ve interacted with Marcus several times over the last few years and his service, hospitality and attitude are consistently extraordinary, to the point where I always seek him out if I need help. He has never let me down, even if he couldn’t help me.
When I got home I called John Scuccimarra, the store manager to compliment Marcus. He told me he wished he had a nickel for every accolade he received about Marcus and related that he was the Associate of the Year last year. He noted that in the 20 years he has known Marcus, his investment in his job and commitment to hospitality have never wavered. He also mentioned that they buy lunch for associates who get commendations from customers. Marcus is a great guy, and I hope he gets more than a sub and an attaboy during his next review! Say hello to Marcus and John if you visit Shaw’s in Boston.
Do you have any ‘service heroes’ in your life? They’re the servers you look for and ask for when you walk into a business, and will even wait for a little longer when they are busy. What is it about their service, hospitality and attitude that sets them apart? What is the server’s name? Tell us the name and location of the business where they work.
My goal is to identify and recognize at least 100 ‘server heroes’ from around the world in the comments section below. Please join in. Thank you.
PS- The fresh Bell & Evans chicken Marcus helped me pick out was tremendous.
32 Responses to “Service Heroes”
Leave a Reply
Permalink | Posted in Human-to-Human Service | 32 Comments »
Patrick – I absolutely love what you are doing! My Service Hero at Sprint is Judy Robb. Judy is the only reason I stay with Sprint. She’s the one I referred to in my blog about my cell phone. I am so glad you brought this to my attention because I am guilty of not calling or writing Judy’s boss to tell him/her just how wonderful Judy is. I am on board with recognizing the great service people out there like Marcus and Judy. Thanks for quoting me and thanks for asking for my involvement. Let me know what I can do to help in your quest to get 100. YOU ROCK!
I’m not sure if “heroic” applies, but for sheer front-of-house skill, personality, knowledge, and caring, I’d nominate Joe Carbonaro. This is based on both his prior stint managing and tending the bar at Boston’s late, lamented Caffe Umbra and his current gig as a server at No. 9 Park. Like Campion and his cellphone store hero, we’d walk by Caffe Umbra and skip it if Joe wasn’t working, and while we don’t get to No. 9 for dinner so much, we always request him. I once described him as like a professional athlete: he plays with grace and aplomb, makes it look effortless, but if you pay attention, you realize he’s working really hard on the floor, behind the scenes, and probably in his off-hours. A consummate pro, a credit to his profession, someone who makes his customers feel well-cared for, cared about, loved. I guess that is heroic after all.
At Green Street Grill and Trina’s Starlite Lounge, we use a knife sharpening company called Supresco. They have a delivery driver named Gary. He delivers every Wednesday, the whole staff looks forward to seeing him and his “have a knife day shirt.” When he comes, he knows where to find all the old knives, collects them himself, replaces with the new ones, and then proceeds to find everyone to say hello and goodbye. If we have a new staff member, he makes it a point to learn their name, just so he can say hi the following week.
I wrote to the corporate office of Staples about Alex, who always holds my hand through the printing process. I work with various artists, building sales displays for trade shows. My boss is extremely picky, and Alex has saved my butt a couple of times.
I always fill out the “how we doin” cards–especially if the service is great. As someone who’s there, I know it makes a difference. Even if it’s just someone noticing.
Patrick, what a great idea. I have to be honest in saying I live in an area where there are a quite a few people I would consider service heroes. I know a woman named Bonnie Hill that works at the SEVCA Good Buy Store in Hartford, Vermont. This is a thrift store that caters to all types of shoppers. Mostly I find it’s people that are having tough times looking for a fair deal. Bonnie takes note of needs and wants and remembers your name when you come in. For example, She knows that I love lighthouses for instance and lets me know when things come in. We were arson victims and had to start over and without the help of our neighborhood thrift stores and caring people like Bonnie we wouldn’t have the nice things we’ve been able to acquire since the fire…
I would like to nominate, Mike, the owner of our local Deli. He has to be one of the hardest workers I know. He always has time to greet you and follow up on your last converstion about your life. Mike truly cares about his customers and has always gone out of his way to meet the needs of his customers…I would like to thank Mike for making my life that much easier whether it be for entertaining or just your typical cold cut order!
My “server” hero is/was HD “Bud” Fredericks. He “served”on my doctoral committee and was the father of Tim, a young man who experienced Down Syndrome. Bud passed recently. Back in 1983ish he worked in a cutting-edge research group in western Oregon – Teaching Research Infant and Child Center. Bud was a “blue collar” worker until the birth of Tim.
With the birth of Tim, Bud went back to school for his PhD to learn about ways in which he could improve the lives of kids w/disabilities and was recognized internationally for his research. When I developed my proposal for my dissertation at Oregon State…designed to train parents of kids w/severe disabilities to teach their kids – Bud reached-out to me and extended himself way “beyond the call of duty” and, for example, invited me to call him anytime, and offered to meet me at my office/building…”salt of the earth” and no pretention(s). He was “full-on” w/me as a newbie doc student.
He always had Tim with him. Tim, eventually, grew into a fine, skilled young man who did/does international presentations/workshops on “What It’s Like to Experience Down Syndrome.”
I think of “Bud” ’cause he came from love. He valued all people and believed that we all can reach our potential…with the appropriate supports in place. Beyond tolerance to love and acceptance – that was “Bud the servant.” No limits.
Bud was the ultimate “server.”
Dr. Hank
FairLady- Thank you for joining the conversation. Where does Mike work? Please include town, state and country. I want to be specific because I am going to contact everyone mentioned to be sure they know that they are appreciated. Thank you.
Mike works at the Cold Cut Center Burlington, Massachusetts.
Check out their awesome breakfast sandwich omelettes:)
My service heroes are Brandy Saylors (bar hero) and Rob Piccirlli (Chef) @ Shepard’s Point in Morehead City, NC. My husband and I go see them every Friday and Saturday night. They give the most awesome service and produce the best dishes ever. I work as a hairdresser and am so tired on these nights. They feed and serve us with best of care, even when they are “in the weeds”, or suffering through a customer that they don’t want to deal with. They deserve every shout out they can get. Thanks Brandy and Rob!
Just had an amazing and typical experience at University Stationary with my heroes, Gail and Barry Seidman. They just helped us find and install a part for an Automatic Numbering Machine. We had looked on line for replacement pad and ink and we saved money and our sanity by checking in at University, before we ordered. The part was a 3/4″ X 1/8″ inch felt pad. Online it cost $7.95 plus shipping. At University, it cost $2.95. Barry helped me install it and Gail made a copy of the directions for my machine which I had long lost, from a newly boxed version of my gunked up model.
This is something that big box stores would like to emulate but cannot fully pull off. They will have many excellent employees, who give their heart and soul to their work but corporations are organized to value and reward profits. their corporate masters worship the “bottom line” and never care about the product/s the way people like Gail and Barry and their staff do. Small stores value their customers and often really love and always understand the needs of the people in the the field they service.
I looked at Yelp for contact info on University and found this story. I smiled because I could so easily imagine the entire story unfolding….
” Before a lunchtime meeting, I realized that the zipper of my suit pants were mad at me and would only stay up for about 2 minutes before drooping inevitably down. I walked down the street hunched into my jacket trying to mentally engineer a solution until I bumped into University Stationery. I walked in and asked, really begged, for A safety pin – no not a box, but I will buy a box if I need to, all I need is one…
Surprisingly they didn’t sell safety pins or were out of them. As a very nice older lady rooted through her desk drawers for one, she told me the story of how one day a poor young man had walked into the store asking also for a safety pin, because he needed them to hold his pants up. She chuckled at this story, but in the midst of telling it, had miraculously dug out not one, but two safety pins (just in case). I thanked her profusely and triumphantly safety-pinned my pants together.”
So, I plan to call them whenever I need stationary so they are there when I need something really special. University Stationary on Mass Ave near MIT in Cambridge, MA.
I have an amazing story about someone i work with who, on any given day, i would consider an average worker. this story showed me a side i didn’t expect to see. nor do i believe she will constantly be an amazing customer service rep from this day forward. but believe me, she made me see her in a new light, if only for a day. it’s a long story i will try and condense. last week, there were two chinese girls at the orlando airport trying to get a flight to beijing. they had tickets for a few months from now but needed to return to their home country. the agents told them to change their tickets would be $700 dollars, but there were no seats for 3 days. then the girls told their story. they are college seniors in beijing who found a “deal” on the internet. all they had to do was give some man $3000 each and he would provide them with a place to live and a job here in the usa to earn money. it was sponsored by the YMCA. the girls asked family members and all their friends and each raised the money needed to get here. they got to florida and went to tampa to the house where this man lived. when they were shown their room, there was one bed and already four other people sleeping in that room. the girls went into other details about the living conditions which were equally deplorable. they contacted the Y to ask what the deal was. as you can imagine, the Y knew nothing about this man at all. the girls stayed for a few days and were subjected to things that they knew were questionable and not quite legal. nothing sexual took place, although it appeared it was headed in that direction. fortunately the girls were smart enough to get out of there. the authorities were contacted and it is now all under investigation. so here is where my co-worker gets involved. this woman heard the girls telling their story and could only stand there and cry and just be thankful for them that they were smart enough to get out and be safe. the girls were prepared to call home and beg for more money to pay the $700 to change their tickets and get home. instead the agent waived all the fees and booked them on the first available flight which was 3 days later. she then took them to her house and let them stay there, fed them, and entertained them until the day of their flight. i was working their flight the morning they left. i took pictures of them with the agent and they even hugged me goodbye. what started as a story of pure evil, ended with two happy, safe girls having learned a life lesson the hard way. so next time i’m working with that agent and complaining that she’s not pulling her weight, i will think back to this story and know that she really is extraordinary in her own way.
What I like about this blog is that it functions as an inclusive forum. The range of possibilities extends, for example, in “Hero’s” post from the father of a child w/Down Syndrome who went back to school to get PhD so he could spend his lifetime serving children w/disabilities better…to the kind gesture(s) of airline personnel. Let’s keep the momentum going and get to 100 “heroes.”
Megan Horan of Brookline Bank in Putterham Circle is my service hero. This young woman steps up and takes care of anything and everything. This branch has a lot of wonderful employees, everyone there is personable and helpful. Megan, who sits behind a desk, I met when I decided to go “local” with my banking and transfer everything from a huge internationally-owned bank. She managed the transition efficiently and seamlessly. She has handled various things for me and each time I am amazed by her. She goes above and beyond in so many ways. She is professional, yet real. This combination is so refreshing. She gets the job done with confidence and personality. Going in and seeing Megan is a pleasure and a joy.
Several years ago, we had gone to a big birthday party, maybe 30 or 40, for a friend in Newport, RI. We had a place for one night…and Sunday afternoon wandering around town, not feeling like a million bucks, we stopped in the Clark Cook House for a drink, to see if it would help. Got talking to the bartender, and after playing the “how many degrees of separation” game, we realized we had friends in common. We talked about staying over for a night and asked where was reasonable? He took 2 minutes to rent us a room there at the “help rate”, checked us in right there at the bar. He saved our day and a bunch of money…and healed us from a big night before. What a guy!!!
Every time I fly through Denver on Frontier Airlines, I stop for lunch at Jimmy’s in the terminal and sit at the bar. Jose, the bartender, offers a blend of speedy and attentive service with a friendly flair that’s perfect for solo travelers on the go. Drinks are instantly offered and he’ll even let you do a tasting if you are thinking of wine. He’s happy to make food recommendations, make a little chit chat, or leave you alone — your choice. And both food and bill arrive quickly so you can run to catch your plane whenever you have to go.
My nomination for sevice hero is Barbara D. of Burlington, MA USA. Barbara works in the “copy center” of our high school. Let me check that statement, Barbara IS the copy center. She works in a big open area where teachers’ mailboxes are located. She greets everybody with a smile… EVERY DAY. She will copy papers for you and get them to you whenever needed… she even delivers (in desperate situations)! She understands urgency! In the past, our teachers never had the service Barbara provides; so everyone appreciates her dedication in the role of unsung hero. Patrick, Barbara also provides music as she works , and we often play “who sings it” as we are running off papers. I thought you would appreciate that being a Grass Roots fan!
My Service Hero is Joseph, one of the Manager’s who works at Banjo Patterson’s Restaurant, located in Gladesville, NSW, Australia. Joseph is one of the nicest, friendliest and most genuine people I have ever met. No matter how busy the restaurant is, he always takes the time to talk to us and ask us about our lives. He is such a gentleman and a true professional. Before we had young children my husband and I would celebrate all our special occasions at this restaurant. Joseph always did something special for us to help celebrate. We always felt like we were the only guests in the restaurant and were always treated like Royalty. All the employees are always so lovely and friendly and have worked at the restaurant for many years.
My service hero is a lady named Lilly who works at the Foxtel Cafe in Sydney Australia. Lilly works behind the counter mainly as a server, sometimes chef, sometimes cashier. Lilly is one of those cheerful people who remembers everyone’s name, what type of sandwich you like, exactly how you like it made, what you like on it, how you like it cut and your favorite drink to go along with it. She will often give you a “The Usual Today” wink & a smile and NEVER forgets. She will ask you how your children are (by names). One day I explained to her that I was having trouble getting my baby girls to sleep as they were quite restless for hours into the night. The following week when I went to the Cafe for lunch, Lilly handed me a little package with a nice card….inside was a CD of The best of ‘Gentle Baby Lullaby’ songs…”play this when you put them to bed” she said, “By the third song they’ll be zonked out.” How cool was that….someone going the “extra mile” to truly and sincerely care about a customer. The best part about this story is that the CD worked like a charm ! When I told Lilly the good news she said “Oh, I am so happy it worked, now you really made my day with that good news”……I made HER day…imagine a person that genuinely gets great joy out of making others happy and what the world would be like if their were Lilly’s everywhere you went:)
Congratulations to all of the winners of the Boston Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards sponsored by JetBlue. Also, thank you to everyone who voted for ServerNotServant.com as Boston’s best blog. I am grateful for you votes and support for this blog and book project.
Now let’s finish our quest to name 100 ‘Service Heroes’ from around the world. So far we’ve identified 19. Thank you.
https://www.servernotservant.com/images/photos/BoMagAward.pdf
I can relate to being called a service Hero myself. Not exactly in those words, but as an employee of Sprint. I have had customer’s wait or ask for me because they knew that they could trust and always count on at least 100% effort from me. I have a Service Hero who works at the Subway in Fenway. Her name is Sarah and everytime I am on lunch and I stop by to visit, she has the best customer service, she is real down-to-earth and engages customers without missing a beat when completing an order. I can always count on her and honestly I never go to Subway unless I know she is there.
My dad was at Courtney Manor Nursing Home in Bad Axe, MI for nearly two months recovering from emergency surgery. The doctor kept delaying his release because he wanted to limit the risk of infection. My dad, who wanted so badly to go home, finally broke down and wept. Denise, his wound care nurse put her arms around him and said, “I’ll get you out by tomorrow.” She had been changing his dressing 3 times a week and knew how well and ready to go home my dad was.
Not only did Denise secure his release the very next day but she packed up all his stuff and took him home herself, (50 miles RT) stopping at the pharmacy to pick up his meds, which she paid for with her own money!
Denise went far beyond the call of duty out of love and respect.
If that is not heroism, I don’t know what is. My dad and I will never forget the compassion and kindness of Denise and the relief and joy she brought to an ailing old man.
I would like to add the names of Mary Anne and Roland, the owners of Cheeky Monkey, an independent record/CD store in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
Call me a bit old fashioned, but I still like buying physical music when I can. Before I moved to the big city of Ottawa, Cheeky Monkey was not only my shrine for everything CD and vinyl, but also my on going connection to the arts in my hometown. Mary Anne and Roland have worked tirelessly for almost 30 years to ensure that culture rules the downtown core of Sarnia. They created “First Friday”, a monthly cultural walk about where downtown stores, galleries, and other establishments stay open to allow those who wouldn’t normally visit the downtown the opportunity to see what’s available right in their own backyard. And on a personal level, in the years that I frequented their store, they became very dear friends of mine who’ve seen me through the worst of my depressive episodes. Going to their store was sometimes the biggest highlight of an otherwise bad day. To this day when I go home, I always make it a point to pay them a visit to let them know that I’m always thinking of them, no matter how far away I’ve moved. 🙂
I have a few service heroes. Let’s count them in the order which I would meet them throughout my day.
The man from Good Earth Coffee on 1st St and 6th Ave SW Calgary. I’m only there once a week for an early morning meeting, but he always greets everyone with a smile, and tends to ‘add’ to my order, like a free refill or such. But it’s not the free stuff, its the fact that among the several hundred even thousands of people he will see in a week, he remembers me. (And he knows my colleague and that we meet even though we never arrive at the same time and don’t order together.)
Sue from the main reception at Mount Royal University. She is charming and gracious, and always patient with callers and visitors. And she makes people feel welcome from the get-go.
The current bus driver on Route 33, between 5 and 6:30 p.m. I’ve had her all week, and she is friendly, speaking to every group as they join the transit or depart. Her ‘have a great night’ is a welcome reminder that just because work is done, there is still a good lot of day to enjoy.
My current service heroes.
I asked a couple of people if they would mind my adding them to this list, and they both gracefully declined, seemingly too humble to accept any public glory or recognition. Despite this, I will nominate Sal, the bartender at Clarke’s inside the South Station train station. In the midst of an often chaotic and hurried environment where everyone usually is in a hurry to eat and drink before they catch their train, Sal is a very proficient, warm presence who makes it a point to make you feel like you are one of the regulars even if you are not. While I am not a longtime Clarke’s regular, in the last year I saw enough of his demeanor and handling of all kinds of characters and situations to make me appreciate how special he is, even if most of the people who benefit don’t realize it.
I have one very special service hero that my whole family knows. Her name is Laura and she works at the Chick-fil-a on Woodruff Rd. Cleaning tables and tidying the restaurant is her official description, but her real job in my opinion is making everyone feel welcome. We’ve been visiting the restaurant for years, longer than the current manager has been there, possibly longer than the last two managers. On the days she works, she never fails to say hi and come by our table. Usually the whole family isn’t there at once, so she always asks how the rest of us are doing. She does her “real job” very well, but more importantly, she is the most pleasant person you could wish to meet. There are other special people at that restaurant, including “Papa Kay” and another lady whose name is escaping me at the moment, but it seems like Laura has just always been there and I truly value knowing someone like her.
Not in Boston but on the outskirts of DC works the nicest guy in all of Home Depot. Jones always remembers me and when I first bought my house even took me on a personal tour of the store to help me fulfill my entire list of needs.
He is always quick to offer suggestions on how to save money, improve my house (a long work in process) and thinks of things I need or tells me what I don’t need depending on the project.
Just goes by Jones. Like Madonna or Cher of the other greats of our time.
Woodbridge, VA Home Depot. Any accolades are greatly appreciated-since I am sure he’s sick of me telling him how awesome he is all the time.
I feel bad, because I know that I’m missing some incredible service heroes that I have the pleasure of having known throughout the city, but I will nominate one that is in the forefront of my mind. Her name is Melissa, and she’s often the high-top/bar area server at Eastern Standard (notably on Tuesday nights). My friends and I have been frequenting the bar on such nights, and she has truly treated us like royalty. Being able to read between the lines when we’re trying to decide between tonight’s offal or the good ol’ charcuterie board, she often brings out tastings of whatever choice that lost during the game-time decision. Recognizing that we truly appreciate good service, notably her good service, Melissa always greats us with a warm, “hello, friends!”, and with us embarks on a voyage teetering the line of gluttony and just good common food sense. Our Tuesday post-class meals just wouldn’t be the same without her. So, thank you, Melissa.
I eat twice a week at Trubadeaux in Chicago and want to nominate JACKSON, who is the best server I’ve ever had. He knows me and my tastes and has never steered me wrong with any of his suggestions. He’s more of the captain of my experience than a waiter and I can’t recommend him enough. He goes above and beyond the call of duty, always ensuring my experience is a memorable one. He has an uncanny knack with names too–I brought my brother Michael in two years after his first visit and Jackson remembered not only him name, but his wife Heather’s name as well. And amazingly, he remembered Michael’s order and likes. Hooray for Jackson.
I nominate Jackson as well at Trubadeaux Restaurant in Chicago. I’m no food expert, and I rarely take any risks with my orders – but Jackson is always there with just the right recommendation and wine pairing; adventurous enough to keep it interesting and broaden my horizons, but not so crazy that I don’t enjoy my experience.
I’ve had a lot of service heroes in my life, but the most recent one was Kenya at the Novel Cafe in Santa Monica on Ocean Park.
I’m an English tutor, and I mostly tutor international college students. November 1-30 is the period to apply for UC universities, like UCLA, and all my students were applying for transfer this year. By Nov 30, all of my students still needed help finishing their essays, and I knew I couldn’t possibly have enough time for each of them if I had to drive from house to house – I needed one place to sit and have them come to me. I’m sure you can see where this is going.
So, on Nov 30, I went to the Novel Cafe early. (Note: The Novel Cafe is a restaurant with a cafe vibe. They have free wifi and power plugs all over for people to bring their laptops. It’s a very relaxed restaurant, but it’s a restaurant nonetheless.) I explained to the server what was up and asked her if it was okay that I take a booth and stay a very long time while having many students come through joining me. I explained that I would be ordering food, most of them would order food, and of course we would tip on all of it, and then I would also add an extra tip on top of that to make up for what she would have earned on that booth if she had been able to turn it over.
Now, even though I totally approached it with an understanding of her situation as the server and made it clear I didn’t want something for nothing, that can still sound like a nightmare. But she couldn’t have been nicer. She said, “Oh, that’s no problem, you don’t have to tip me anything extra, lots of people stay here all day and only get a cup of coffee, it’s fine.” (I responded, “Yeah, but those people are assholes. I try not to be an asshole.”) And here’s what’s really amazing: She worked a double, and throughout the 11 hours I was there (no shit, 11 hours) she never once stopped asking me how I was doing, she never acted annoyed or put upon, she never was anything less than awesome. When she had a minute to eat her own dinner, she sat at my table and actually had a conversation with me like we were two people instead of one of “us” and one of “them.” And at the end of the night when I paid the bill, instead of acting entitled to the huge tip (which, I assure you, she was more than entitled to), actually tried to give it back. When I insisted, she gave me a genuine “thank you” and an actual hug.
I know this comment was really long, I’m sorry, but judging by your blog I’m sure you can appreciate how incredibly important her genuine kindness was to me. At every turn she was completely gracious and wonderful, and in a world where many people become unkind over far less, that’s invaluable.
I work with Marcus. I’ll be showing him these nice compliments.