Saying Goodbye to My Customers

 After 3 1/2 years of being a courier I recently started saying goodbye to some of the people I delivered to over the past couple years.  I wanted to do something different for some of my favorite people, so I put together a few of my favorite delivery stories and printed it up and for about 25 people and I gave them a little gift.  I enjoyed doing this and got some great reactions.

Four woman gave me a hug and one woman said, "I'm so sad." (about me leaving)  Another woman taped my stories on the wall right next to her desk so she could look at it in the future.  A number of women were very surprised and obviously "touched" that I would think of them.  I got plenty of laughs as they looked at the pictures and started to read the stories.  Pretty much all of them thanked me for doing a good job and many of them said they would miss me and of course I'll miss them.

One of my last customers who received my gift turned out to be one of my all-time favorites.  The Wal-Mart manager who always wanted an earlier delivery, he said to me, "thank you, you did an awesome job." It just so happened that two of the last three days I got to deliver to him by 9 am, which has never happened before. I made sure he knew that by saying, "I'm here at 9 am for my last delivery," and he laughed at that.

Finally, I told two women at Greg Norman's Australian Grille, that this was my final delivery.  Their office is outside the very fancy restaurant and I had just carried two heavy boxes of paper of the stairs.  A number of months ago I told them that I was the only person in the world who associated Greg Norman's restaurant with pain and I got a good laugh.  The one woman laughed again when I repeated it and gave me the manager's card and said, "come in some time have a free lunch on us."  It was very nice and almost on cue, the manager walked in and wished me a happy retirement.

Below is the gift I gave out and most of the stories which I have blogged about before.  The pictures on the bottom appeared on the gift I gave out all together in one line right in the middle.  However, my technical skills prevented me from duplicating that for this blog.

MY FAVORITE DELIVERY STORIES AS A COURIER

I’m from New Jersey and I told my customer that I really miss snow.  I could see the fear in her eyes and I said, “I did bring a snow shovel to South Carolina.  If I could only get ten minutes of flurries, I’d be happy.” She looked directly upwards and said, “Dear Lord, give this man what he wants, but only over his house.”  She then nicknamed me, “snowman” and we always talk about snow.

 I have a customer in the very next building and I told her the “snowman” story. I had joked with her that she should put a sign up right above where I place her delivery.  The next time I came in, she couldn’t wait to take me to the spot and there was the below sign, just for me, a picture of a snowman.

The woman sitting at the information desk at the hospital is one of the nicest people I’ve met in South Carolina.  She sits there each day and watches people walking by and she noticed how fast I walk past her pushing a hand truck. One day as I was approaching her, she said, “Do you have only one speed-fast?” Laughing and in a loud voice I said, “YES!”  She nicknamed me “Speedy.”

I delivered a small refrigerator to a department in a hospital.  The manager wasn’t in, but I told another person to tell the manager that when someone delivers a refrigerator, the next time they come in there needs to be a small piece of chocolate cake for them.  She laughed and two weeks later I saw the manager and I immediately saw she was smiling under her mask.  When I mentioned the chocolate cake she laughed and said, “there isn’t any, but I can offer you some cheese.” Recently, I checked with her, and she offered me yogurt. Below is a picture of a piece of chocolate cake I DID NOT GET from her.”

I delivered to the fourth floor of an apartment complex.  I called my customer to see if they had put in an elevator yet and she laughed.  I had to carry three, forty-four-pound boxes of paper and another heavy box up to her door.  She wasn’t home, but she told me on the phone she felt so guilty.  When I finished, I took the above picture and texted her, “Don’t feel guilty.”

When I met Ms. Wilson in physical therapy, I told her that she had a presidential name and that Woodrow Wilson’s wife, (Edith), was really the first woman President of our country because she did all the work when her husband recovered from a stroke. I started calling her, The First Lady of Physical Therapy and would always have her laughing with a big smile on her face. Shen never knew that I was laughing before I would open her door. Wishing you a speedy recovery Madam President!

I have laughed more with the die-hard New England Patriots fan than with any customer. She almost chased me out of her office the first time since I had on a NY hat. I teased her about the Giants beating her Patriots twice and she told me about the dance she does while watching games and that the Patriots lost to the Eagles in the Super Bowl since they ate “too many starchy foods.” My best visit was when she was about to take blood from a guy wearing a New York Giants shirt. I said to him, “Did she tell you that she’s a New England Patriot’s fan and she hates the Giants? I’m sure she’ll be careful with that needle.” We laughed a lot that day.

My customers really care a lot about me. One manager of a Wal-Mart pharmacy always wants an early delivery, but I’m usually later than he likes.  One day I was very early and he wanted to buy me a slice of pizza, but they weren’t open, so he gave me a lollipop. Recently, I was very late and I apologized.  He said, “We were about to send the bloodhounds out for you!” He was so worried he was going to send a search party out for me-that’s how much my customers cared about me. THANK YOU TO ALL!