We Can Learn a Lot From the Guy Who Parks Cars

Recently I was at a party where valet parking was provided. At the end of the evening, when
the guy brought the car to us, I gave him a generous tip. I then picked up the ticket he left on
the dashboard and pulled the matching ticket from my key and tried to hand it to him. He
gave me a somewhat aggravated look and asked me where he was supposed to put it. I said,
“Why don’t you put it where you just put the tip I gave you?”

Really, I wanted to tell him to put it somewhere else. I also wanted to ask for my tip back.
He didn’t appreciate it initially—and I know it was generous. But it was the
holiday season, and it just wasn’t worth starting up with him.

Contrast that with this story. A friend of mine, Scott Ginsberg, works part-time at the Ritz as
a valet. A guest arrived in a rental car and he couldn’t find the door handle right away. Scott
opened his car door to welcome him to the hotel. The man jokingly complained it would be
nice if he had a nicer rental car. Scott joked back and told him he would try and find a
Bentley for him before he left. That humor and special attention to the customer earned Scott
a $100 tip.

Throughout the stay, Scott would greet the gentleman and the joke continued as he said he
was still looking for the Bentley. Scott continued to be rewarded with generous tips.

On the gentleman’s last day at the Ritz, Scott presented him with a gift. Earlier in the day
Scott drove to the Bentley dealership and bought a very nice model of a Bentley, had it
wrapped and presented the “car” to the man as he was leaving the hotel. Scott said, “See
that? I told you I would find you a Bentley.”

The Bentley model cost $60.00. (Pretty high price for a model, but it is a Bentley!) Scott
collected far more from this gentleman than the $60.00 cost for the gift, but that isn’t the
point. Scott loves people. He engages with them in conversation and loves the interaction.
That is why he is so good at what he does. It wouldn’t matter if he parked cars, sold clothes,
etc. (In a moment, I’ll tell you what else he does.) his desire to make people feel appreciated
and special are what makes him a success. And he didn’t have to buy the guest a gift. He
just wanted to because that is the kind of guy Scott is.

Unlike how I felt toward the valet who was just parking cars, the guest at the Ritz wanted
to take care of Scott, not just for parking his car, but for making his day a little bit better.

And now, as Paul Harvey says, here is “the rest of the story.” Scott is 23 years old and parks
cars at the Ritz as a part-time job as he works on his career as a professional speaker and
author. Scott is the author of “Hello, My Name Is Scott” and has been featured on CNN, in
USA Today and more. His company is Front Porch Productions and Scott’s purpose is, as he
puts it, to be friendly to every one to break down walls of social trepidation, thus
spreading the fulfillment and sheer joy that can be found through interpersonal interaction. To
put it into better terms, he encourages you to step onto someone’s front porch to help
enhance our society’s level of communication.

To welcome people onto his “front porch,” he wears a nametag every day, no matter where he
goes, and he has been wearing it for over three years, never missing a day.

It is amazing how two guys who do the same thing, parking cars, can be so different.
Both are good at parking cars, but only one of them really understands what his real job is all
about—taking care of people.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

(Copyright ©MMXI, Shep Hyken)