How to win my business

There is much talk of late about how to win business and customers (not that they aren't always discussing this, but it seems rather frequent lately). And I'll be the first to admit, I am one of those loyal and lazy customers. If I find something I like, it is going to take something pretty impressive to convince me to try something different. If I find a place I like shopping, you're going to have to work super-hard to talk me into visiting your store instead of the place I already know. But keep in mind that it only takes one mistake for me to jump ship in a heartbeat (ask Red Lobster).

However, Target won me over this week. I will now be having all of Luke's prescriptions filled there. Why? Because of nice employees and smart business practices. The place I had his current prescription filled gave me a syringe to use to administer the medication (whoever thought of using the syringe has my eternal thanks!). The problem? The syringe only reaches half way into the bottle! How am I supposed to get to the other half of the medicine? GGRRR! So I asked the pharmacy at my grocery store (where I get my own prescriptions) if they had the long syringes. No, they only had a long dropper (which they did give me for free, which was nice), but with Luke, I really need the control of the syringe.

So when I was in Target the other day for something else, I decided to ask if they happened to have the longer syringes. No, but they have this nifty little contraption instead! It is a stopper with a small hole in the top that the syringe fits into. Plug the bottle with the stopper, put the tip syringe in, turn the bottle upside down, and pull the plunger. No mess, no loss of medication, no contaminating the entire bottle with the body of the syringe, and they have different stopper sizes to fit different bottles. The screw-on lids even fit back over the stopper, so no need to put it in and take it out every time. And she gave me one *despite* the fact that she knew I did not get my prescriptions filled there. Good design, good service, nice people, and generosity. Is that really so much to ask? And it is standard procedure for them to provide the appropriate stopper and a syringe with every liquid medication they dispense. Yep, they just earned my business!

Currently feeling: grateful