Service Excellence

When I fell the other day, my watch also broke so I took it into the repair shop.  The watch is quite old and there are only a few places in town which can repair it.  I took it to a little shop which I'd been to a few times but years ago. 

The first time, I switched out my leather strap for metal links and the little old watchmaker kept the strap and the extra links - I was super skinny and all the links would've made the watch loose and floppy.

The second time, the watch was fogging up and running a little fast.  When I got it back, the little old watchmaker had not only fixed it, but cleaned the links and polished the scratches in the crystal.

The third time, over 15 years later, having gained some weight, I went back to add the extra links.  The attendant insisted that they did not have my links, but when she went to look, there was a little wooden drawer tray with the links in it! so the watchmaker was able to add them back in.

I was very impressed.  Fast forward to last week.  I took my watch to the same place and just picked it up.  I was quite pleased that they fixed both sides, not just the one broken side.

But, when I took a look at it, the watch was not cleaned.  I mentioned it and the attendant said I never asked for it to be cleaned.  I told the story of my prior experiences and she took it away to be cleaned.

Then I asked about my leather strap and she said if it was years ago, it wouldn't have been kept and a new strap would cost me $300!  I mentioned the little wooden tray and she said no, the links would've come from somebody else's bracelet.  There are always loose links lying around.  I found that a little hard to believe.

Now I feel very disillusioned.  All these years I had such a warm fuzzy feeling for this shop.  The little old watchmaker must have passed on or sold his shop; I am quite disappointed.  Things are not like in the old days.

Today's outfit is another rainy day, keep-air-flowing-around-the-wound outfit.
You can't tell, but the sweater is a nice soft Parkhurst one which is coming back into favour.

I'm smiling but not for long - my teeth are wobbly from the fall and might need to get fixed.