When Customer Service is service to the community

Author: Joanna Wilson

Customer Service going the extra mile in these covid times, can attract customers interested in covid protocol protection. Successful restaurants are providing outdoor tables, separate entrances and exits, reservations, methodical cleaning, and many other ways  to keep their diners and staff safe.  I appreciate them all! As an enthusiast and supporter of the social and restaurant scene in Creston, I can go out to safely enjoy occasional reprieves from staying home! The mask can be a fashion statement, who knew?  It took me a while to get used to wearing one.  I’ll always remember going to a meeting downstairs in the Chamber meeting room, without my mask with me, thinking it was alright, a big space right? Almost every person wore a mask, as a matter of course.  My new rule for me is to be masked until Covid is no longer an issue.  What is good for ourselves, our friends and fellow Board members, is good for the community at large. When entering a restaurant I wear a mask until settled at a table, ready to sip coffee and eat, putting it back on to go outside. ( It doubles as a nose warmer). Some restaurants do contact tracing, a valuable service in case of an outbreak. I am thinking of the time I ‘barrelled’ through the door not realizing the table right in front of the door was there for a good reason. The staff person, designated to get name and phone number for the contact sheet, called me back. He then escorted myself and my bubble to our table, which he had methodically cleaned and sterilized. All of these precautions I appreciate, realizing there is a cost to Management. But as Arnold said, “I’ll be back!”