I’m old enough to remember when service meant something. Even fast food vendors cared about your experience with them. Certainly there are entities who still excel in that area, and we know who they are – Disney, Nordstrom’s and The Four Seasons Hotel chain, to name a few. But I recently had a great experience with a company who average Americans can better relate to – Target.

I love shopping at Target. Every Target store I’ve ever shopped in is clean and neat, with specific areas clearly marked. Now I do encounter the occasional grumpy cashier, but for the most part, employees seem to enjoy what they’re doing – which is always a sign of how a company treats their employees. I didn’t think it could get any better, but I was wrong. Last weekend, I was shopping in Target looking for a baby gift. The baby registry machine was very easy to use and printed me 3 pages of items. I always find it hard to locate specific items because there are a thousand bibs, hundreds of onesies and countless blankets to choose from. But wait – the Target registry tells you exactly what aisle to go to. Perfect! The only thing better would have been a personal shopper waiting for me in aisle 3.

I found the items I wanted and proceeded to checkout. As I approached the cashier, I had pen in hand ready to mark off the items I was purchasing so that I could return to the registry machine and update it. But wait – after the cashier rang up my items he asked if I’d like him to scan them into the registry. How simple and convenient is that?? What in the past has taken me an hour to do, took me about 10 minutes.

Target made the shopping experience easy and enjoyable. Isn’t that really what we’re all looking for? How nice would it be if we didn’t have to sit in an endless voicemail cycle for 20 minutes waiting to talk to our internet provider only to be told their system is down, or if we could see our doctor within 10 minutes of our appointed time? I think many businesses lack basic courtesy, and consumers have lowered their expectations to match the level of service they receive. Service providers don’t value our time and over time, have come to believe that it’s just the price you pay for being in their club. I work every day with a group of great professionals and we strive to make every interaction with us easy and enjoyable. We do have our share of bumps along the way, but just having that as our main objective is a great place to start.