The Story of Johnny the Bag Packer
This is a true story about a young man with Down syndrome who created a transformation in customer service at the store where he worked (the cover image shows the young man with the storyteller). This story inspired the person who lived it to write a book titled:
The Simple Truths of Service
I’ve translated and shared it with you with permission from its author. Without further ado, here is the story.
The Story
The storyteller (Barbara) says: a few years ago I was hired by a large company that manages a chain of supermarkets to lead a customer service program aimed at building and strengthening customer loyalty.
During a talk I gave to the company’s employees, I said: “Every one of you can make a difference and create memories for customers that bring them back. How? Put your personal stamp on your work: think of something you can do to make your customers feel special — a memory that brings them back.” A month after that talk, I received a call from a 19-year-old employee whose job was to bag groceries after items were rung up. His name was Johnny. Johnny told me: “I liked what you said in that talk. But at first I thought I couldn’t do anything special for our customers — after all, I’m just someone who arranges items in bags. But later an idea came to me: every night when I come home from work, I think until I arrive at the idea of the day — meaning, the day’s thought — and if I can’t come up with anything, I try to be better each day. Once I had a good collection of ‘daily thoughts,’ my father helped me print multiple copies, and I cut each thought out individually and signed the back. The next day at work, I leave a copy inside the bag for each customer and say to them: thank you for shopping with us.”
Barbara says: I was deeply moved by how this young employee — working in a job most people would consider unimportant — managed to make it an important job through his role in leaving memories with every customer who passed through his lane.
A month later, the branch manager called Barbara and told her: “You won’t believe what I’m about to tell you. While doing my usual walk around the branch, I found that the line at Johnny’s lane was three times longer than the other lanes. I rushed to ask employees to open more registers to reduce congestion, then told customers about it — but I was surprised that they preferred to wait in the same line, Johnny’s line. They wanted to get the day’s thought he prepared. I was very happy to see how Johnny managed to delight customers. I felt a lump in my throat when one customer told me she used to shop weekly but had started coming every day to get Johnny’s thought of the day.”
A few months later, the branch manager called Barbara again to tell her that Johnny had become the cause of a transformation across the branch. The flower department, whenever they found a slightly damaged rose or a bouquet that wouldn’t last another day, would look for an elderly woman or a young girl to give it to. Every member of the branch began enjoying creating these memories for our customers. Our customers started talking about us, coming back to shop with us again and again, and bringing their friends along. This beautiful spirit of service spread throughout the branch — all because Johnny chose to make a difference.
Barbara closes her story: Johnny’s idea wasn’t so much creative as it was genuine — it came from the heart. It was authentic, and that’s why it touched customers’ hearts, the hearts of his colleagues, and the hearts of readers who heard this story. Great service comes from the heart. Will you become like Johnny starting today?
The story has been translated and republished with permission from the author. Source and copyright details are below.
“Reprinted with permission from ‘The Simple Truths of Service’ by Ken Blanchard and Barbara Glanz” © Barbara Glanz Communications, Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved. www.barbaraglanz.com
In Closing
What did you take from the story? Personally, I believe organizations don’t succeed at delivering distinctive customer experience until all their members believe in its importance. And after belief comes the role of application — every individual in the organization contributing to making a difference and putting their stamp on the service provided, from the bottom of the pyramid to the top, whether they face customers or work behind the scenes. Most importantly, what everyone offers must be genuine and come from the heart, not from a desire for reward or a fear of punishment. The return on that, as you noticed from the story, is free marketing (customers telling their colleagues about the store and bringing them along) and a higher level of loyalty (customers coming back to the same store). I’ll close with the most important lesson I took from this story: change can start from an individual, and no matter how weak that individual may seem, they are capable of making a difference. The hero of this story has Down syndrome, and yet he was the cause of a transformation across the store where he worked.
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