I ordered one dish before the kitchen was about to close. It was served in 10 minutes. I started eating the dinner.
This is where the story begins. Having stayed in US for almost 30 years, my appetite for Indian Spice has almost vanished. But, I adjust best I can. This time, it is more then I could tolerate. Waiter, aged 20+, was wandering around me. After I ate half of the dinner, he suddenly asked me if it was too spicy. I had no idea why he asked me because he was not standing by me.
It took me by surprise. Working on big data applications and analytics on daily basis, I started to figure out how he could find that I was not happy. I backtracked my eating steps and observation points that followed them. I drank frequently lot of water, ate salad piece by piece and was taking deep breaths. He also came twice to me and tried to fill my plate. Waiter could see that I was not enthusiastic about filling my plate.
I finished my dinner. He asked me politely if food was spicy. Being humbled by his approach, I told him that I was not used to spicy food. He immediately went to kitchen with a fiery face and came back after few minutes. Then, he asked me if my dinner was finished. I said I was ready to leave and asked for the bill. He prepared the bill. I saw him going to kitchen again. Here is the key moment. With bill in his hand, he came back and apologized for spicy food and offered the sweet dishes at no extra charge. I was surprised again. I was just expecting dinner bill. Being Indian Sweet ( Ras Malai ) lover, I did not hesitate to eat the sweet. I paid bills and took off.
This incident left me with truth I believe in. This incident teaches us one thing - Be observant of customer to offer ultra customer service. Customers may not be aware of what your service is unless you interact with them on their latest experience. Observe, measure and reciprocate on basis of your SWOT ( strength, weakness, opportunity and threat ) paradigm. My experience was not good one to start with, but ended being very satisfied one, thanks to keen observance and attention by the waiter. Waiter surprised me time to time. He changed end game in his favor. That is Ultra Customer Service.
This article was also published on LinkedIn. URL is www.linkedin.com/pulse/ultra-customer-service-sunil-sabat-ms-comp-eng-ms-comp-sc-mba