I had to run into Staples to have something laminated. While I was at picking up and paying for my order at the copy center desk, I told the girl working behind the counter that I needed to buy five sheets of 11″ x 17″ paper. Simple request, right?

Me: “Do you have 11″ x 17″ paper in colors?”

Staples co-worker: “Yes.”

“Can I have five sheets on the ivory or the cream?”

“We don’t have it in stock…we have to special order it.”

Didn’t I just ask if you had it? Did she think I was inquiring as to whether or not such 11″ x 17″ colored paper existed? 

“Okay…that’s not a problem. Do you have it in stock in white?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Can I have five sheets of that?”

“Um…okay…um…we don’t…um…we can’t really sell you five sheets like that. There isn’t a way that we can ring it into our system.”

You would think I was asking her to sell me her shoes or something. Even now when I think about it I have to shake my head in disbelief. There are several options she had, any of which would have worked out better than her response. She could have decided to:

1. Sell me the paper as if it were 5 copies. Easy. Problem solved. 

2. Give me the paper for free. It’s five sheets of paper…they cost you next to nothing. It creates goodwill with a regular customer.

3. Almost anything other than stand there like a deer in the headlights, stammering about point-of-sale systems.

My last job with Kinko’s was as a regional trainer, handling customer service classes. This is Customer Service 101, Staples. Hire people who can solve problems, rather than create them. I’ll still shop at Staples for supplies sometimes, but from now on my print work will probably end up elsewhere.

These days I frequently hear people blathering on about branding, but the truth is that very few people really have any idea what branding is. It’s not your logo, it’s not your tagline–it’s everything. Including—especially in service businesses—the people who man your registers. In a micro environment like a small city where word of mouth carries a lot of weight, who you hire says more about you than your logo ever will.