Target Rocks!

I can honestly say that I've had nearly 100% perfect customer service at our Target, and today was no exception. I stayed up until 2:30am Saturday morning working on coupons and preparing my grocery lists (sorry, guys, I got caught up watching movies on TV while doing my grocery list and completely forgot to do a post Friday night!). There was also an amazing sale going on at Belk this morning that I wanted to check out, which meant getting myself & the kids up early to catch the sale before it ended.

Plus my daughter had dance class, and I literally had 9 other places I needed to visit in order to complete today's errands.

All while toting around a 5- and a 3-year-old.

By myself (I know, it could have been worse!).

So with the lack of sleep, two way-too-energetic children, and a full day's shopping on the agenda, I could very well have had every reason to be grouchy and cranky today.

After all, at the first Walgreens I went to, I made my purchase, then realized I forgot to buy something on my list and had to go back inside for it...then later realized I forgot something else on my list and had to go to the other Walgreens location in town just to get it!

And my kids...well, if there's anything you should remember about them it is this: they are super high mommy maintenance. You know...mommy, I need this; mommy, can you get me that?; mommy, I want/need/absolutely got to have everything in front of my eyes or else I will not make it . They're usually really good about not throwing a tantrum when I tell them no (which is usually 99.999999% of the time). But they go on and on and on and on with every push of the shopping cart. Oddly enough, it doesn't happen if there's just one child. But both? Watch out!

But did any of that bother me today? Nope.

Not even with the many hiccups that occured at my Target during today's excursion.

After arriving at Target, we first ate our lunch there in the snack bar. The cashier didn't ring up my kids' meals correctly, so she had to refund me my money, the re-ring up the meals. She forgot to give me my small size cup so I could get myself a drink. And then she proceeded to overcook my kids' mac & cheese, which looked more like bowls of cheese crumbles rather than elbow macaroni noodles.

But that didn't bother me a bit.

Then there's my son who had to go potty 3 times during the first 30 minutes at Target. Three times!! What's worse, he went by himself into the bathroom near the pharmacy because it was just one toilet, which doesn't seem like such a big deal, except when he was done going #2 (and I did not know that's what he was doing), he hollered over and over and over again for the whole store to hear, "Mommy, can you come wipe my butt?" until I was finally able to get into the bathroom to help him. And there were customers nearby who obviously heard him and were laughing hysterically.

But that didn't bother me a bit.

And I could not for the life of me find the bottles of Kids Essentials. I had a manufacturer coupon and a Target coupon that would have given me $8 off the cost. But it didn't matter because I couldn't find them.

But that didn't bother me a bit.

And then when I checked out, the cashier rung up about half of my purchases when his register flaked out and canceled the whole transaction. So he had to re-ring up my grocery purchases all over again.

But that didn't bother me a bit.

In fact, one of the Target associates who was trying to troubleshoot the register's issues handed me two Target coupons totally $6 off my purchase because of the trouble. Totally unexpected! I wasn't flustered or upset or even flabbergasted about the condition of the register. My mind was trying to plan out the remaining errands that needed to be done today, so getting upset had never even crossed my mind.

But after all my grocery purchases had been rung up for a second time, I paid, and the register printed my receipt. Except there was no print. Just a piece of paper about 100 ft long (give or take) with nothing on it. And the manager couldn't change the ink cartridge and reprint my receipt. Instead, she wrote her name on the receipt and handed it to me, assuring me that I could use it to return or exchange any of my purchases if necessary. I suppose it's odd to have a hand-written receipt from Target.

But that didn't bother me a bit.

Why?

Because everywhere I turned in my Target, I saw a friendly face. The employees genuinely care about their customers. The store is clean. The clothes on the racks are neat & orderly. Overall, there's a sense of organization in the store, so customers like me intuitively know where to find what they are looking for (excluding the Kids Essentials from earlier; I don't think my store sells them). The lines are usually short and quick-moving with plenty of cashiers at the registers to help with the traffic flow--and if the lines do start to get backed-up, they are very quick about opening up new registers!

It's a COMPLETELY different atmosphere than another "save money, live better" store.

Target accepts my coupons, including Internet coupons, and I can stack manufacturer coupons with Target coupons. I can print Target coupons online, plus they mail me coupons at least monthly, and I often get coupons at the register (which started happening this Summer for me). They honor my coupons, happily accepting the Internet coupons I present to them just as they would a coupon from the newspaper, without making me feel like I'm wasting their time (unlike that same "save money, live better" store I mentioned above).

And many of the sales are simply wicked cool. Like the Kellogg's cereal B3G1 Free that was going on this week. I used manufacturer coupons stacked with Target coupons to truly sweeten the deal. I've also earned countless free $5 gift cards simply for buying the things that I need to buy anyways. How cool is that? (you don't see those kind of deals at competitor discount stores that supposedly save you money so you can live better!)

Essentially, they go above and beyond to satisfy me, their customer!!

And that is why, in my opinion, Target rocks. I always know that I'm going to have a great experience, regardless of what I encounter, because the associates at my Target truly do work to satisfy their customers. Plain and simple.

I used to think that Target was always overpriced on everything, and so I rarely shopped there, anticipating that I would never find a good deal. I always thought a certain store was ALWAYS the cheapest, and I shopped there exclusively until what I commonly refer to in my head as The WM Saga (which still continues, long story) occurred. But that was before I learned about websites like Attention Target Shoppers and the other blogs out there that post the hottest deals around at Target and nearly every other discount, drug or grocery store you can find in the continental US.

And so, sweet sisters, my point is that you can have a great shopping experience no matter what occurs so long as you're at the store that is willing and actively seeking to make its customers happy! I don't intend to say Target is the only place that does this. I get the same great, quality customer service from other stores--IGA and CVS, for instance.

And it's because of the customer service at these stores that I'm willing to shop at 9 or so discount, grocery & drug stores instead of one large all-in-one store.

It's the difference between going home with a smile on my face knowing I've accomplished what I intended to do vs. going home with a scowl and perhaps even a tear or two.

When you shop, what do you look for in a store?

I hope that you've found a store where you can happily shop and enjoy each and every minute. :)
The views expressed here are solely mine and are based upon experiences I've had shopping at many, many stores in my quest for getting what I need with the service I expect. I realize that not all Wal-marts are as awful at customer service as the 3 supercenters in my area. Hopefully, your experiences have gone much more smoothly than mine! :)