I also like Elmer Wheeler’s advice from many years ago… “Say It With Flowers.” Often times, just saying “I’m sorry” or “Thank you” or “I love you” is just lip-service. But as Wheeler said, when you tell your wife you love her—say it with flowers! In other words, don’t just say it… show it!

A recent example, I ordered chicken tenders at a restaurant. They were raw! The manager apologized and said he would take it off the bill. Of course, you’ll take it off the bill. That’s a given. If he was really sorry he would have offered a free dessert.

It seems when you give someone something tangible it magnifies the impact of your spoken words. It shows you really mean what you said!

One of the largest utility companies in the UK set debt collectors on me in Summer 2008. I got letters, emails, phone calls and text messages. They would be told to “prove” the debt and they never could. Eventually I served them notice about harassment proceedings and they went away. Next another firm came after, the notice was sent immediately. This pattern continued for almost 4 years before one of them confessed that the debt belonged to a rental property of mine and they had attached my name as the owner and had tracked me to my home. So someone, somewhere had not done their homework and the utility company has lost me as a lifetime customer on any property I own. The upshot is that the utility could get fined by the regulator and the debt agencies landed in licensing trouble.

A few weeks ago I bought a couple of burgers on my weekly commute. One had a very small bit of something hard in it. I put it to one side and dropped them an email. They sent me an envelope, sent the piece to a lab and came back to me with an apology and vouchers. A small fragment of bone had not been filtered out in their meat supplier. I wasn’t really bothered about making a complaint, I just wanted them to be aware of the object in case they had an unknown problem. I came away feeling well treated, but didn’t really need the vouchers just a simple thanks would have worked.

On these same journeys I would always refuel at one place and there are a couple of middle aged bikers who work there and always remember you. Each trip over a certain period I earned cinema tickets.

So a couple of weekends ago we took the kids to see Ice Age 3 and went for fast food on the way home. I didn’t need any vouchers to make me feel appreciated as a customer nor to compensate for error, but both multinationals left me with a really good feeling when it connected together.

Both of these places will probably have a lifelong customer just for that feeling alone.

Of the first business, I suspect they wouldn’t even care to lose a customer or get a fine.

Ross