This morning I stopped by my local King Soopers to pick up a few groceries. One of the items on my list was a pound of sliced turkey from the deli counter. Sometimes I pass on deli meat if there’s a wait but today I was in luck as there was no line!

One aspect of my business involves mystery shop services, so I’m in the habit of evaluating wait times, employee behavior, cleanliness, and other aspects of customer experience. I started my watch.

As I stood in front of the deli counter, I noticed there were four employees present: a butcher preparing the display case in the meat department adjacent to the deli counter and three deli employees busily performing their job functions.

This is an important observation. As I waited, not one of the four employees was goofing off, sending a text, reading a newspaper, or talking with a coworker. All were on task.

While one employee had his back to me, the others were all facing forward. At six feet tall and 200 pounds, I am not a small man but no one seemed to notice me. I waited. Two minutes went by, then three minutes. As I continued to wait, a blog post began to form…

Consumer behavior is fascinating. There are a variety of ways that different customers might choose to deal with this situation. Some customers, in the absence of a bell, will wave their hand or call out to get an employee’s attention. Others, giving the employees the benefit of the doubt and being sympathetic to their side duties, will patiently wait to be acknowledged.

Personally, I’m inclined to walk away. Why should I reward poor customer service with a sale when there are three competing supermarkets within a mile of each other?

After three and a half minutes, I made eye contact with the butcher who smiled and nearly disappeared from view before he halted, recognized that I had been waiting a while, and called out, “Counter!”

The deli employee who approached me did not smile. Perhaps she was annoyed that I had interrupted her side work? She conveyed indifference as she prepared to execute another deli transaction: Take the order, slice the meat, weigh the meat, bag the meat, price the meat, and deliver the meat… “Next?”

Because of her demeanor, I made the decision not to reward King Soopers with a $6.99 sale for a pound of Private Selection Oven Roasted Turkey and decided instead to just pick up only the essential items on my list.

While in another part of the store, I encountered the assistant store manager, Ronnie, and shared my experience at the deli counter. She listened to my description of events, apologized on behalf of the deli employees, and made the comment, “It’s because you’re wearing a white shirt. You blended in!”

Ronnie was good natured and having a little fun—and I appreciate that. I did explain to her, however, that the reason I was overlooked had less to do with my attire than deli employees focusing exclusively on their job functions (the duties and tasks associated with their job roles) and neglecting the essence of their jobs (their highest priority): To create delighted customers.

She listened patiently, then offered to go to the deli counter and pick up a pound of the sliced turkey for me free of charge. I told her that was not necessary but she insisted.

While she was away retrieving the turkey, I checked-out and asked the cashier to charge me for one pound of Private Selection Oven Roasted Turkey and be sure to make Ronnie aware that I had paid for it.

The reason I did that is because there are many cynical employees who believe customers only complain to get something for free. That’s simply not true. Most customers complain because their expectations (for quality, accuracy, timeliness, etc.) were not met.

Ronnie met me at the store exit with the deli meat, smiled, and apologized again. Like many customers in the same situation, I thanked her for her help and left the store.

What happens next is entirely up to me. Will I put the experience behind me and return to King Soopers as I did following this incident or will I vote with my feet and shop across the street?

Of this I’m certain: If I choose to return, the quality of customer service I receive will be determined by whether or not employees choose to view me as a priority rather than an interruption—not the color of my shirt.

Last week, I delivered the opening conference keynote address for an insurance association at The Mirage Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

The topic was customer service and one of the behaviors I highlighted was to express genuine interest in your customers by, among other things, engaging them with questions.

After my presentation, one of the attendees asked how to express genuine interest in a customer when you have a line of other customers waiting to be served—either in person or on the phone.

That’s a fair question.

Waiting customers may perceive employees (or other customers) to be insensitive when an interaction continues beyond that which is deemed appropriate. If you’ve ever been exasperated while waiting to be acknowledged in such a situation, then you know what I mean.

Even so, it is possible to deliver exceptional customer service by expressing genuine interest, using appropriate humor, and conveying authentic enthusiasm—even when facing a long line of waiting customers.

As I stood in the taxicab line in front of the Mirage later that morning, for example, I observed a doorman named Folk doing a masterful job of modeling these customer service behaviors while remaining attentive to the fact that there was a continuous line of waiting customers.

As I progressed closer to the front of the cab line, I observed him interacting playfully with his guests and engaging them with short questions and an infectious smile.

As the guest ahead of me was about to get into her cab, Folk put his hand up and said, “Give me a high-five!”

She high-fived him and then positioned the palm of her hand near her pocket and said, “Down low.”

Both laughed as Folk reciprocated with a low-five before securing her in the backseat of the cab and closing her door.

As soon as that cab pulled away, Folk whistled for the next cab in line at the cab stand to pull forward. Even his whistle was different and reflected his unique style and flare.

As he took my suitcase, he asked, “Are you an NFL fan?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “In the Detroit game, catch or no-catch?”

He was referring to a controversial incomplete pass ruling that went against the Detroit Lions in their loss to the Chicago Bears the previous Sunday.

I told him that I’d heard some of the chatter but had not seen the play so I really couldn’t comment.

Before closing my door, Folk asked, “Where are you from?”

I said, “Denver.”

Smiling, he said, “Oh, a Broncos fan! Come back and see us!”

He then turned his attention to the next pair of guests in line to express genuine interest and perhaps use a bit of appropriate humor, while conveying authentic enthusiasm for serving others.

Not only did Folk make his guests smile, he made many lasting positive impressions—the kind that turn passive, disaffected customers into engaged promoters like me who are responsible for 80-90% of the positive word-of-mouth about a company or brand, are the least price-sensitive, and tend to repurchase again and again and again…

And that’s no mirage.

How many of you enjoy standing in line, waiting to be served?

Long before Disney mounted large flat screen televisions to keep its guests entertained while waiting in line to see the next attraction, supermarkets have positioned tabloid newspapers near the checkout aisles to ease the inevitable delays that accompany grocery shopping after work and on weekends.

Even though most high volume supermarkets offer a number of self-service checkout stations, it’s not uncommon to wait in line behind two or more people for a station to become available. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this banner posted prominently above the checkout lanes at my local Albertsons supermarket:

“OUR PROMISE: Never 3 people in line at one time.”

With this bold promise, Albertsons demonstrates its commitment to customer service. And, while I don’t know the particulars of its process to ensure lines don’t extend three customers deep, I bet it involves cross-utilization of staff—enabling store employees whose primary job role is something other than ringing up groceries to fill in as cashiers when needed.

Contrast this with an experience I had last week at a major national toy retailer where the lines ran at least three customers deep while four employees stood behind the “Customer Service” counter within view of the congested checkout lanes.

I know from experience that this retailer wouldn’t dare post a similar banner for two reasons:

1.) It lacks the underlying commitment to customer service needed to display such a banner.
2.) It does not have a process in place to ensure the promise would be kept.

In fact, most businesses lack the underlying commitment to customer service and processes required to make bold promises in the area of customer service.

Don’t take my word for it. Judge for yourself the next time you’re standing in line, waiting to be served at one of them—which should be any day now.