Excellent customer service in spite of long lines...

Today is the day before a major holiday, and lines everywhere were long. In spite of the extra hours the stores' staffs worked these past few weeks, I was impressed by their excellent customer service. Although they sounded and looked very tired, cashiers and other store employees still tried to smile, joke with customers, offer to carry packages out to the customers' cars and answer questions.

The sole exception was a new employee who had not been sufficiently trained. She was pushing a cart around her store, putting items away. When asked where an item could be found, she looked around desperately and pointed to an obviously incorrect aisle. It would have been so much better for public relations if she had worn a "trainee" badge, or had simply said, "I'm new here. I'll be happy to call my supervisor and ask him."