Customer Service...

I am down in south Florida right now, playing on the Gateway tour. We had so much rain last night, that when I showed up to play today, they had to cancel the round. Apparently, they got four inches of rain overnight. The tough thing about this is, there are only two tournaments after this one. I am sitting at 38th or 39th on the money list, and 42 guys make it into the 400,000 dollar tour championship. We currently have a potential hurricane brewing in the Atlantic. This hurricane could rain out next week, and then I am supposed to skip the last one. This is turning into a "nail-biter!" Hopefully, we will be able to finish tomorrow and I can go low.
So, after I found out we were not playing I decided to go play somewhere and get some practice in. The weather is beautiful today. I drove back to Abacoa Golf Club, and teed it up for a quick eighteen holes. I warmed up a bit, and teed off when I noticed that someone on the grounds crew was aerifying the greens. They charged me 58 dollars to play, said there was not many people out there, and never told me the greens were aerified. I have a real problem with this...does anyone else? I just feel that it is a serious customer service mistake to do that at a golf course. The aeration holes ended up being very small and the greens rolled decently well. As I thought more about it, I was reminded of an experience I had in Pittsburgh last year. I was playing in a Hooters event there, and decided to grab a breakfast bagel one morning before a practice round. As I ordered my sandwich, I noticed the man behind the counter. This guy was full of energy and enthusiasm about serving. He looked every customer in the eye, and went so far as to make suggestions about what bagel might go best with their sandwich. The place was packed, and he took the time to serve each customer with care, while moving the line quickly. This guy was good. After paying for my sandwich he said, "Thank you for coming in, and please let me know if you liked your sandwich or not. If there is anything else we can do...please feel free to tell us." I am not exaggerating at all, and it was very impressive. In contrast, as I finished my round today, the manager was out by the carts. I drove up, he said hello, and walked away. He never asked about how my experience was, and didn't seem to care. I payed six dollars at Einstein's in Pennsylvania, and 58 dollars at Abacoa Golf Club.
As a quick note, the golf course is a good golf course, but I thought the customer service part was interesting!
Check out the scores this week at The Gateway tour link on the left side of the page.