Customer Service

For those who know me well, you know I did not enjoy my college experience, any of my college experiences. I attended three before graduating from UMass Lowell. I worked full time and went to school full time. I transferred into two colleges and got caught in the collegiate bureaucratic red tape. However, I had the most remarkable English Professor, Professor Friedman. Once a week I had the privilege of driving him from Lowell to his home in Cambridge. The time I spent with him was priceless because he was such a wealth of information; he forewarned me of a Richard III situation about to happen in the English Department when the chair stepped down. He always insisted on paying whoever drove him, but most would have driven him for free, just to be in his company.  He was a generous man with a big heart and he taught all who had him about life. He taught me not to look away from someone who was begging for money on the street. He said “don’t ignore them or look through them because they’re human. You don’t have to give to them, but at least acknowledge them. “ As a poor college student I had a hard time figuring how I was going to pay for my tuition and bills and hardly had two nickels in my pocket, so when I met someone on the street looking for money I would remember Professor Friedman, smile at the person, and say “sorry I don’t have anything to give.”  What amazed me even to this day was the number of people who would thank me and compliment my smile.  It’s the lesson I’m trying to teach my children about being careful on how you say things. People can hear a smile over the phone even if they’re hearing no.  A smile can certainly make everything else seem better even when the message delivered isn’t positive, that’s true customer service.