We’re customer service nerds. We totally and completely geek out over a tiny bit of kindness and a whole lot of thought. That said, we’re also the customer that wants to be left alone and not bothered or questioned too much.
We discovered at each place we stayed, and we stayed in everything (hotel, motel, house, botique apartment, camping site) that they way of the New Zealand is to be accommodating to your guests in a kind and thoughtful way by leaving tea, sugar, coffee, a ‘plunger’ (french press) and a tiny bottle of milk in the fridge.
By the end of our month, we came to expect it and a few times, after long stretches of traveling, it felt nice to wake up to ‘something’ already waiting for us. Little tiny amounts of sweetness.
Not to be forgotten, the beer and wine in lots of places were also in abundance. Once while I had run into the grocery store to get a bottle of wine, while the rest of the family waited in the car, I was stopped by a woman that worked there. She could tell I was trying to decide which bottle to take home and she quickly reached for a few and tried to shepherd me towards a tasting table….in the grocery store.
I politely declined, although I would have typically loved to sample a few wines, my family was waiting. The woman was concerned that I might not be happy with my purchase, without tasting it, but I assured her, we’d be fine. And I thanked her for caring.
Tiny bottles of milk, tea, sugar, and tastings in the grocery store….customer service nerds for life.