Everything Under The Sun: A Serving Of Customer Service

Thursday, May 14, 2015

A Serving Of Customer Service

Ridge helping his special customer with her meal.

Jim Schroeder, general manager at the QDOBA restaurant on Hurstbourne Parkway in Louisville, employs a particular philosophy in running his business. He says, "It's not about making people's food. It's about what kind of positive impact can I have on somebody else's day." Certainly, that is a wonderful philosophy to adopt in running a business, especially when employees take it to heart.

That's certainly the case of Jim's employees. His restaurant has one special customer, who doesn't get out and about all that frequently. She has some disabilities, so when she gets out on the TARC bus, she makes sure to stop in at her favorite restaurant. In order to make it through the front door, she has to wait until someone notices her presence and can help her. On this day, it was Dr. David Jones, who said, "We helped her get in because she was out in the parking lot so we helped her get in." He was the one who filmed what happened next.

It was Ridge Quarles who took this young woman's order. He continues the story, "She didn't get out of her house very often, but whenever she did, she always told me, 'Ridge, this is my most favorite place to eat.'...By now, she's actually been in so many times that we know what she likes to ear."

It was the same that she had ordered previously, taco salad with hot sauce and cheese for lunch, a burrito with hot sauce and cheese for dinner. Ridge said, "I had helped her through [the] line and sat her out in the lobby, got her a drink, got her utensils and napkin and kind of started to walk off and I was like, you know, 'Is there anything else I can help you with?' and she turned around and she was like, 'Sir, if you don't mind could you help me eat?'"

Ridge knew just what to do. He put on a pair of gloves and helped his customer to eat. When so many others would have walked away, why did Ridge help her? Said Ridge, "I mean, she needs help and if I wasn't going to do it, no one was. Who else is going to do it?"

Ridge certainly impressed Dr. Jones, the videographer of this scene. As he said, "It seems to me that if everybody in the world would just use the simple gift that they have to maybe benefit somebody else, think what the world would be like."

And it's not as if Ridge's kind act would cost the business very much. In, fact, it is probable that it would have the opposite effect, especially for Dr. Jones, who said, "I said, I don't know, I think I'll just send it [the video] out to some of my friends and say 'there's still some good people in the world.'" And you bet when they've seen the video, they'll notice the name of the restaurant, whose employee has a heart of gold.