If you listen to commercials on radio and TV and read ads in the newspapers and on billboards you might have noticed that businesses consider us their number one customer.

For years, when I was the Director of the Michigan Quality Council in the Engler Administration, we reviewed businesses across the State of Michigan and looked at World Class Service. What we found was that meeting and exceeding the expectations of customers was of paramount importance. And companies who practiced that stood head and shoulders over other companies.

So having said that, I marvel at the ads that herald “Customers are #1”, or “We treat you like family.”

In my mind, aren’t these just givens! I would hope that as a customer we are the number one person when we come into a store or order something online. That seems rather logical, so why do companies have to advertise it? Just wondering.

Then there’s the comment about us being treated like family. Now let me be a bit critical here. I guess it would be nice to be treated like family, but I suspect that there are families out there that would not be the typical Ozzie and Harriet family and thus are we sure we want to be treated in a way that is atypical of the normal American family?

Again just wondering.

Now if I sound a bit off the rails with this, I always laugh when I see the signs on billboards stating that as a customer we are #1. How else should we be treated?

Our lives are inundated with ads and commercials from companies who want our business. And of course we can’t get through an evening without hearing from those commercials from lawyers whose claim is how much money they have returned to their clients. There’s always a high dollar amount.

What I would like to see, though, is the total amount of the settlement less how much the legal firm took from the client so we can see the actual amount.

Now if I sound a bit cynical today, maybe it’s the change in Daylight Saving Time and I need more sleep! But I just learned that the Senate passed a law that we will be on Daylight Saving Time all year. Guess that means no more losing sleep and thus I will be more attentive and not so cynical.

Because of course, as readers of The Lake Orion Review, you are my #1 customer and I promise to treat you like family! Yes, we have a normal family!

Bill Kalmar

Orion Twp.