“…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!” A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
A Christmas Carol stays with us as a spellbinding tale of redemption that keeps the spirit – and spirits – of Christmas alive. As we all debate which movie version of the tale is best (partial to the Albert Finney musical “Scrooge” and Michael Caine & the Muppets), and ideally, revisit the book, friends and family, now far afield, come to mind.
Our family friends, a wonderful couple, knew how to keep Christmas year-round in a home that was open to everyone. As people of faith, they followed the example of humility and generosity bestowed on us through Christ’s birth. Though they had struggled for many years, no one kept Christmas like them, the ultimate year-round Christmas customers who wholeheartedly had bought into seeking grace. During the holidays, their home was a delightful Christmas town with illuminated miniature houses and decorations floating on sparkling snowy cotton with holiday songs playing all day long.
While working for their family owned business, I learned excellent customer care: take calls immediately, get back to people promptly. Listen. Nurture the loyalty in clients that they showed each other, family, friends, and employees. The customer is indeed, always right, delicately balanced with not letting him or her take advantage. Smile. Often. Customer satisfaction not only means return business, but pride taken in a job well done.
The added bonus was the Fezziwig Principle. Like Ebenezer Scrooge’s favorite boss Fezziwig, our CEO “…had the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil…The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.” Our CEO might have preferred a likening with Cary Grant as the angel in “The Bishop’s Wife,” as he was a man of meticulous style, but he had the heart of a Fezziwig. He took a personal interest in each employee and would brighten everyone’s day with a story or a joke, essentially creating an extended family. This debonair man, who had grown up on a family farm, wrote all about that life that led to his success as a gift to his children and grandchildren. His kept his family and the farm close with his own beautiful gardens that shared nature’s beauty and a reverence for the Master Gardener.
Our CEO’s “bride,” as he liked to call her, and board member, who was sweet and shy, decorated the office with a joy that brought immediate smiles from everyone who crossed the threshold. Christmas for them started in November. Cookie tins, candy boxes, bottles, all wrapped elegantly and divided according to customers’ preferences were set out on tables around the largest room of the office, each labeled, so many that they spilled over onto the heating vents. The most important part was the CEO’s personal delivery of these several hundred gifts with a “thank you” and a handshake for each customer, fading traditions that one hopes will make a comeback after these days of isolation.
Each a model Christmas customer, what our friends were teaching us was not just how to treat customers, but how to treat everyone.
Three Kings Day and then 349 days till Christmas!
“The Christmas Customers” All Rights Reserved © 2020 Kathleen Helen Levey
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