04-16-2007, 07:32 PM
From a BUSINESS point of view;
How many shirts did said customer just drop off?
Do I remember this customer as a regular who gets stuff done here regularly?
How much do I net on each shirt of his?
How long (roughly, not getting the calculator out) will it take me to recoup my loss of $2 on this customers business, should he choose to return?
Unless the answers to those questions are at least "neutral" or positive for my business.... the customer gets a polite apology, but no $2. IF, on the other hand, he IS a regular that I recall dropping a fair amount of business my way, and I'm clearing $1 a shirt... then I apologise, open the register, give the customer his $2, AND a coupon for "next time he here", and wish him a nice day.
When I was a self employed gunsmith, I noticed that it was usually the guys that I'd never seen before, and would probably never see again, that always wanted to "cut a deal" or "get a discount" for (whatever). The guys who kept coming back for my work may have had the occasional legit problem.. and those guys I treated right by fixing their problem, or making some sort of recompense for their trouble.
A business should treat their customers right.. but it also goes the other way; If a business is good to a customer, a customer should be good to the business. This is not an obligation, but a reciprocation of the courtesy the business shows the customer by going above and beyond what is required (in the cleaners place, I would not always take the customers word at face value... unless I had been dealing with that customer before).
Now, that being said...
The cheap boogers should pay Greg his $2!
How many shirts did said customer just drop off?
Do I remember this customer as a regular who gets stuff done here regularly?
How much do I net on each shirt of his?
How long (roughly, not getting the calculator out) will it take me to recoup my loss of $2 on this customers business, should he choose to return?
Unless the answers to those questions are at least "neutral" or positive for my business.... the customer gets a polite apology, but no $2. IF, on the other hand, he IS a regular that I recall dropping a fair amount of business my way, and I'm clearing $1 a shirt... then I apologise, open the register, give the customer his $2, AND a coupon for "next time he here", and wish him a nice day.
When I was a self employed gunsmith, I noticed that it was usually the guys that I'd never seen before, and would probably never see again, that always wanted to "cut a deal" or "get a discount" for (whatever). The guys who kept coming back for my work may have had the occasional legit problem.. and those guys I treated right by fixing their problem, or making some sort of recompense for their trouble.
A business should treat their customers right.. but it also goes the other way; If a business is good to a customer, a customer should be good to the business. This is not an obligation, but a reciprocation of the courtesy the business shows the customer by going above and beyond what is required (in the cleaners place, I would not always take the customers word at face value... unless I had been dealing with that customer before).
Now, that being said...
The cheap boogers should pay Greg his $2!