Shareworthy Service: Privilege at the Cap City Fine Diner

Yesterday, I shared the 14 facets of any shareworthy customer service experience. After researching about a bazillion stories of the good, the bad and the ugly, I realized that experiences were made either famous or infamous because of some combination of those 14 facets.

Additionally, those 14 fell equally into two primary categories: Professionalism and Kindness. I’m certain if you focus your organization on those two keywords in 2012, and you figure out ways to specify, measure and reward efforts to deliver them to customers, you will be more successful more quickly.

I believe all fourteen are self-explanatory – though I will try to lend context to each of them over the next couple weeks as I put together a presentation and e-book on the subject; however, I had a few questions yesterday about the fourteenth: Privilege.

I’ll begin to illustrate the fourteen facets with a story of my own about privilege.

I’m in Columbus, Ohio, where I’m in the middle of eating the best fried chicken dinner of my life.

I’m a guest of a delightful Christian radio station – 104.9 The River. My hosts have quickly become friends.

I passed on the meat loaf my three dinner companions at the Cap City Fine Diner all ordered. They assure me it’s the signature dish.

Three bites into my chicken, I assure them they’re wrong.

The general manager comes up to our table to introduce himself to our table. Always a nice touch, right, but not all that uncommon?

He asks of our meals. I tell him his fried chicken dinner is stupid.

I mean it’s good. I’m hip that way. At least my son thinks so. Still.

I tell him I’m from out-of-town and my three friends said we absolutely had to visit this place while I was there. He thanked them and wondered if we were going to try the signature dessert: The Cup of Chocolate?

“It’s a large mug,” he said, “filled with warm, gooey chocolate lava cake, topped with vanilla bean ice cream and hot fudge.”

“Mbmbm phgmm,” I replied, on bite 17 of my fried chicken dinner.

“But,” he continued, “and we don’t put this on the menu, but our regulars order it with warm peanut butter between the lava cake and the ice cream.”

“Now you’re just showing off,” I said (borrowing one of my favorite phrases from my friend, Scotty).

He smiled, clearly proud of his place and his food, and wished us an enjoyable rest of our dinner and thanked us for coming.

“They do that a lot here,” Bill said at our table, “I know there are several things you can order off the menu.”

“Like at In and Out burger,” said Craig.

“Yep. Same thing,” I said, and as I was about to continue to talk about what a delight it can be to be in the know and rewarded and made to feel special by knowing things ‘outsiders’ don’t, our waiter arrived at our table.

“A gift,” he said, “from us. You could have gone to a lot of places during your short time here.”

A giant, steaming Cup O’ Chocolate. Four spoons.

And peanut butter, of course.

I was a regular now, after all.

(If you can’t see the embedded video full of steamy chocolate deliciousness, click here to watch it.)

What about you – can you think of anything similar that you love that’s off the menu or reserved for a special few? What? Oh, of course … we understand if you don’t want to share your secret …