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I remember being taken in by the combined aroma of Coco Chanel and Estee Lauder’s Beautiful. At sixteen years old, my BFF had had just helped me land a holiday job as a stock clerk at Nordstrom. This was particularly meaningful given my uber frugal immigrant parents were more Mervyns and K-Mart types. When I told them about the job--in my parent’s purview, I had "made it."
That first job at Nordies helped me understand what it meant to deliver great customer service. Here are a few things that have stayed with me throughout my 20+ year career (yes, it’s been that long!).
Even as a stock clerk, I knew that my job was to “provide outstanding service every day, one customer at a time.” In some cases, my customer was the manager I reported to, the salesperson I needed to find an item for, or the husband who had waited until Christmas Eve at 5 PM to buy his wife’s gift. From the moment I rang the security entrance bell, to the moment I exited that same door after my shift--I knew exactly what I needed to do and that was to deliver exceptional customer service. This simple mantra was proudly posted in the lunch room, on a slip of paper with my paycheck, and was embodied every day by every single person I worked with.
Similarly, I knew exactly the brand I needed to uphold. The Nordstrom customer expected a certain caliber experience. Missorted display racks, unkempt dressing rooms or unfriendly customer service were simply unacceptable. Even when my car broke down on the way to work one day and I had to climb the fence and take the bus instead, I knew that I had a certain brand image to uphold from the moment I walked into the store.
After spending my Christmas vacation taking inventory and getting paper cuts from wrapping countless gifts, I was promoted into sales. I soon discovered that there is one holiday that gets husbands more crazed than Christmas--Mother’s Day. Frazzled and overwhelmed, "John" walked into our department the day before Mother’s Day looking for the perfect gift. Even at 16, I had the good sense of convincing John that buying lingerie or a swimsuit for his wife who had just had a baby six weeks prior was not a good idea. We settled on a lovely Adrienne Vittadini outfit only to find that we no longer had his wife’s size in stock. With my shift ending at 5 pm, I told John I would drive 60 minutes to Walnut Creek to get the matching top that would complete her perfect Mother’s Day outfit. After driving my beat up Dodge Colt to Walnut Creek (remember the note about my parent’s frugality above), I delivered the wrapped outfit to John’s home.
The following weekend John, his wife Lisa and darling infant came into the store. They came to visit me accompanied by the store manager to thank me for going above and beyond. Somehow, even in my adolescent immaturity, I knew that John needed a gift for his wife for Mother’s Day and that showing up without one was not an option. As a mother and wife now myself, I am so thankful I had those instincts.
So many years later, I am still thankful for my time working at Nordstrom. Even though I spent the majority of my paycheck on clothes, that job had such a formative role on my professional life. Even though I technically don’t work in a customer service role any longer, the lessons I learned there have stayed me throughout my career.
This article originally appeared on Desk.com.
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