Here are two more small town service stories, from a column I wrote for The Fence Post out of Greeley, CO.

Doing business in a small town has its own rewards, and not all of them can be measured in financial terms. Last week my husband took a broken hydraulic hose to get a replacement in Hot Springs, SD. Due to the fact that the hoses require specific ends, or fittings, and the hose itself has to be cut to the required length, they are not made up ahead of time. Instead each hose is custom-made, on the spot. When he got to the local parts store, he found the hose and one of the needed ends was in stock, but not the second end. Did the parts manager say, ‘Sorry. We can’t help you today,’ and go about his work? No, he called a competing parts store and found they had the necessary fitting. Russ picked up the hose end, brought it to the place of business where he started his search, and had a new hose in very few minutes. That is service.

My favorite customer service story occurred thirty years ago. Our younger son wanted to wear a camouflage uniform for Halloween so he could be a soldier, just like his dad. The task of finding a set that would fit our son’s small body began; I found what he needed in Anderson’s a downtown Chadron, NE clothing store, but they had to order the pants in his size. I hadn’t paid any attention to the calendar but two days before the costume party, our son asked where his outfit was. I called the family owned and run operation and discovered that the brother thought the pants were destined for lay-away and had dutifully taken care of them. The wise and caring sister asked me, “Where to you live? We will bring them to you after work tonight.” Now, we live 60 miles from Chadron, the purchase price was less than ten dollars, yet she was willing to deliver, just so our little boy wouldn’t be disappointed. I met her half way between our house and Chadron, saving both of us many miles.