‘Thank you, sir’ suits me just fine

on the town USE THIS ONEYou can tell an awful lot about the health of a company by the demeanor of its employees. Consistent or indifferent surly conduct is not the result of one malcontent at the cash register. It is often a reflection of the management of the company.

If management doesn’t care, why should the staff? Most of the time, management does care; it’s just that they care about the wrong things. Too many companies large and small are so concerned with their bottom line that they forget what it takes to produce one that is healthy.

When all is said and done, what it takes is people -- good people. Good people make or break any organization.

Many years ago in another career, I was selling things to some very large retail stores -- national companies whose names you would recognize. I used to marvel at how much money they spent to advertise, to buy merchandise and to put it all on display on pretty racks.

But when it came right down to spending money on the one thing that would most make customers want to return for more, they cheated themselves by skimping on their employees.

In any business, people make the difference between success and failure. You can have the best products at the best price, but if your salespeople don’t care a whit whether Mrs. Jones shops in the store, Mrs. Jones won’t care either. Mrs. Jones is busy, and she has too many alternatives to you, including the entire online world.

This is a long introduction to an extraordinarily high level of service I recently experienced at a Costa Mesa store.

Prior to a New Year’s weekend out of town in Yosemite, I needed to have the oil in my car changed. I drove to Oil Stop on Bristol and Baker streets in Costa Mesa to get it done.

When I got there, I was greeted by Carlos, who asked me what service I needed. But Carlos didn’t just ask, he welcomed me and called me “sir.” In fact, he called me “sir” many times.

Perhaps it’s because I rarely get called “sir” by anyone, let alone a guy who is going to work on my car, that I noticed it, but it was a nice touch.

Carlos then proceeded to tell me what would happen next, including that the Oil Stop people were going to make recommendations to me based on their checks of fluids and such.

“We’re not on commission,” Carlos said, “so if you decline, we’ll just keep working on your car.”

A few minutes later, he introduced me to Kevin, who was also going to work on the car. Kevin was at least as courteous as Carlos.

When it was all done, they said two words I rarely hear anymore from any salesperson or cashier in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach.

They said, “Thank you.”

Why “thank you” has disappeared from the parting words of cashiers is a mystery, but it is also a fact. “Thank you” has been replaced by “Have a nice day,” “Here you go,” or just nothing at all.

Of course, there is good service all over Newport-Mesa, but it is getting harder to find. For the record, I find consistently good service at the Vons grocery store on Adams Avenue and Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa and at Hi-Times on 17th Street in Costa Mesa. Hi-Times, by the way, is a must see if you appreciate wine or if you want to see how disorganized a store can be and still be successful. At Hi-Times, the difference is people.

My shining example of superior service is still the Container Store at Metro Pointe in Costa Mesa.

If you own or manage a business, any type of business, you owe yourself a visit to the Container Store to see how it’s done right.

Oh, by the way, the Container Store pays more than average retail wages -- quite a bit more, in fact. They also sell their employees their products at deep discounts so they will buy them, use them and become better salespeople.

What they get in return is a store full of company ambassadors, low turnover and high sales. It’s not rocket science.

I doubt that Carlos or Kevin will get rich working at Oil Stop. But I hope they take some measure of satisfaction in knowing that no one does it better.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (714) 966-4664 or send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.

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