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Patrick

Taking a break in this post from teaching to share a life story. 

 I had a recent shopping experience that was pretty life changing. If I encountered this every time I shopped I'm sure I'd shop more often.

 We were in Toronto for a baseball game.

 Yes, I know I'm anti-sports, but it was for my people. There are things you do when you love someone. 

 But don't ask me to do it again anytime soon.

 We booked an Airbnb which was an apartment just a couple blocks from the baseball stadium. We had the entire place to ourselves. If you haven't traveled with Airbnb yet you need to check it out. Click here to save $40 on your first trip! We paid about half of what a downtown hotel room would have cost. The apartment was in the perfect location and we were able to walk to the downtown mall, the Toronto Eaton Center. This place was bustling and was fabulous. By the time we walked there we were hot and had been rained on. None of us looked our best, but we walked through the crowd and entered Nordstrom. My daughter and I went to the women's department while my husband found a seat and some food.

 My twenty-year old could be a marathon shopper. I've learned a lot from her. She always finds great deals, even in Nordstrom. She found a few things to try on and we were approached by Patrick who asked if he could start a fitting room for her. She handed him her items and then returned to shopping. When she was finished Patrick ushered her into the room and then he came back to find me.

 "Suzanne, do you want to go in and have a seat with her?" he asked, adding that I looked like I could use a break.

 I gladly accepted and he led me into the most glorious fitting room I'd ever seen. It was bigger than my home office. I sat on the chair and watched as she did her thing. I was amazed at not only the ample size of the room, but by the fact that the fitting area was raised, had mirrors all around, and even  had shoes to borrow to try on with the clothing. And they were sparkly shoes. #win

 When she was done she took her purchase to the register to pay and the sales clerk asked who'd been helping us. We said it was Patrick and that we didn't know where he'd gone. He joined us at the register within moments and continued the sale. After handing her purchase to my daughter Patrick asked if we'd like a bottle of water, we both accepted. He walked away and returned with two cold bottles of water which he handed to us and said we looked like we could use them. He was kind and thoughtful and treated us as if we'd spent thousands instead of what our total was. 

 Patrick was the epitome of good customer service. What a wonderful experience we had. If every store had a Patrick and a fitting room of excellence I would shop more often. We get so used to being ignored in stores and ushered into fitting rooms that are barely big enough for one person and her six items. I've had sales clerks carry on conversations with other people and never once look at me while ringing up my total. I've had them not make eye contact with me. I've had them rush me through to get to the next person like it's a contest to see who can wait on the most people in one day.

 I'm not sure if this was a Canada thing or a Nordstrom thing, but the Toronto Nordstrom has got it going on. Patrick is a treasure and I kinda wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home with me.

 Every store needs a Patrick.






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