An hour ago, my girlfriend and I completed our Saturday grocery shopping at one of the Trader Joe's stores in San Francisco. Although TJ's is relatively unknown in other parts of the country, here in the Bay Area, it's an institution whose funky organic-cooperative roots are still evident despite its commercial success -- grocery shelves still carry hand-made signs, you bag your own stuff, and Hawaiian-shirted staffers ring brass bells to send messages.
So we get home and start unpacking the groceries: meat, fresh veggies, yogurt, Zinfandel, pita bread, etc. Pulling out a package of turkey breast, my partner scowls and asks for today's date. "Today would be the 26th." "Well, the packaging here says `Freeze or eat by Aug. 24." Of course, we call the store. It's 8pm by now, but they're open til 9pm. A real person answers the phone. That's their policy. They immediately offer an exchange, which is reasonable, expected and common. "But," my partner says. "That's kind of an inconvenience, since it means making a second trip."
Flash forward to 8:10pm. A Trader Joe's clerk has just rung the doorbell and delivered a new turkey breast, departing with the old expired one. They didn't offer any excuses, they didn't ask why we didn't check the date before making the purchase, they didn't promise to fit us in during tomorrow's deliveries, they didn't wait until closing time because the store was busy and everyone was occupied - they dispatched a TJ's associate immediately to drive halfway across town to deliver a $9 breast of turkey to my doorstep.
People complain a lot these days about a general lack of civility and service. The public discourse has grown depressingly coarse, talent has been replaced by celebrity, quality goods are harder to come by in sea of cheap disposables, it's nearly impossible to ever reach a live person by phone, air travel has turned into an event of stress and dread, and we practically expect customer service complaints to be met with surly indifference.
But there are pockets of outstanding service and a commitment to customer satisfaction. One of these is Trader Joe's - specifically the TJ's in San Francisco at the corner of 9th and Folsom. To the fine folks there: I salute you. And you can bet I'm gonna tell everybody I know about tonight's experience.
