When we moved here I was so happy to find a small, family-owned pharmacy right near our house. Pharmacies, hardware stores, stationery stores, and bookstores like these are pretty rare these days (at least in large cities like Los Angeles.) Most of the small pharmacies left are in medical buildings, but my neighborhood one stands alone, old-fashioned style.
Over the years I’ve gotten to know the employees (I think there are only 3 people total who work the counter) and become friendly with them. Most of our family has gotten our vaccines and boosters there. When I call in they know me by my voice. And they always answer their phone themselves instead of having a computerized voice do it first.
The other day I realized I was late in refilling a prescription that is important that I take everyday. The pharmacy said that they could give me 5 courtesy pills to hold me over until the full prescription would be ready. This was Friday and although I knew I should pick up the pills that day, I got tied up with kid stuff and told myself I’d do it Saturday.
Well Saturday rolls by and, due to parent life and a sluggish memory, I didn’t remember to get the prescription until just after 5pm, and they were already closed. It wasn’t an emergency, but it did mean I would most likely get some headaches and such over the weekend. So I defeatedly prepared myself for that, then let it go.
Around 5:15pm or so that evening I decided to go to the grocery store. When I got back there was a small pharmacy bag by my door. Not only had the pharmacy employees noticed that I had never picked up my prescription, but they had remembered that I needed it this weekend or I’d get symptoms. They didn’t even call me to tell me they were going to deliver it. They just did it because they thought about my confort. That’s what I call authentic, caring customer service!
This never would have happened if they hadn’t gotten to know me beyond the transactional relationship. Nor would it have happened if they had a customer base 4-5x their current size.
This kind of caring, one-on-one customer relationship is what’s so often lost with these large, we-have-everything-in-one-place kind of chain stores we see everywhere now. I’m not saying that large chains are evil or anything like that, but it’s sure nice when you can find the small businesses to support and become friendly with.
The Way I See It 