"If You'd Like to Get More to Drink Feel Free"

Kono's Surf Club is a little restaurant on the corner of the pier on Pacific Beach in San Diego.  If you're a local I'm sure you know it.  Generally considered the best breakfast on the beach, the line's almost always out the door.  The joke is, 'if you can't see the line, you're probably too late.' 

We ate at Kono's for the reputation.  It was good and all, but I'll go back for the attitude.  Far too often companies treat us as second class, particularly in restaurants, where staff often assumes we're bad tippers, and not worth the effort.  The cycle becomes self-perpetuating, as service gets worse and our tips drop even lower. 

A busser at Kono's said something that has stuck with me for the past few weeks, and I believe it will for a long time.  We ate outside, it was a beautiful day (tuna melt was great by the way), and as we got up to leave, after the busser had thrown away our trays, he yelled out, 'If you'd like to get more to drink feel free.'  Most places like that, where you order and usually leave with your food or go outside, rarely offer free refills.  Kono's does.  Wait staff rarely goes out of their way to help us when there's nothing in it for them.  Kono's does.  Most places don't offer you more after you've paid and are about to leave.  Kono's does.

We were leaving, and the busser felt the need to yell out, just so that we knew, that we could go inside and they'd refill our beverages behind the counter.  We did.  His words have stuck with me.

Now THAT's customer service.