FRED Friday...tech MAGIC

FRED Friday...tech MAGIC

This week’s FRED Friday story comes from a popular website, reddit.com, a social news website on which users can post their own stories and content.  Other users can then vote on the links to stories, determining how prominently they're displayed on the reddit.com home page. 

Earlier this week, my boss forwarded me a link to this particular story…he said it made him think of FRED Fridays.  I had a few other potential stories in mind, but the more I thought about this one, I felt compelled to share it with the OneMoreStepRevolution community…

Lori works the tech bench at a large retail store.  This week she posted her story of a magical moment she made for a client about two months ago.  Lori’s heart went out to an elderly Guest/customer that came into the store with a broken computer.  Of course she needed it fixed.  This fragile, older lady had recently suffered two strokes, was having difficulty with her words, and she had a real tough time with her writing as well.  The lady brought in a fairly new netbook computer that her daughter had given her just a month prior.  The computer was showing no sign of power. 

Lori confirmed that the problem was not the battery or the adapter.  She then told the lady that she did have a manufacturers warranty and the machine could be fixed, but they would have to send it off for the issues to be resolved.

Though the lady did not get angry, she began to tear up…that computer was the only way that she could see her daughter and son-in-law, as he was deployed and stationed in Hawaii…

OneMoreStep moment…

Lori thought to herself, “She has only had the computer one month, and she’s only just a little bit outside the exchange policy grace period…plus the poor lady is having an awful time with this.”  So she sets out to see what she can do.  Lori went OnMoreStep…thought purpose over policy, and exchanged the computer for a brand new one…she didn’t stop there. 

Lori went even OneMoreStep…

The poor lady had a slip of paper with all her usernames and passwords for all of the applications, websites, and programs that she used frequently.  Lori entered them in to all the sites she frequents and saved them, making it as easy as possible for her to access what she needed and most importantly, to download Skype.

The nice lady was very grateful, and she left happy.

A few weeks later, as Lori was working in the back, one of her coworkers came back to get her…a customer had asked to speak to her specifically. Though Lori was initially scared, as she was unsure of just who could be outside asking for her…she walked out, and it was the lady for whom she had made magic.  She was holding a teddy bear with a hula skirt on it and a card. She told Lori that what she did meant so much to her and her family that she called Lori's corporate office and told them the story…and her daughter sent Lori a card and hula bear from Hawaii as a thank you.

Lori said in her post, “It was overwhelming…”

Lori could have easily apologized for the inconvenience, followed proper “procedure”, and sent off the computer to be fixed…taking the standard 14 to 21 days…or who knows how long to be returned.  Instead, she cared.  She served…and she took an ordinary day’s work and turned it into an extraordinary experience for someone. 

Sometimes the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is ONE…MORE…STEP!

Happy FRED Friday…

Taylor