Blog #153  I talked about when Fred left Nordstrom. In this blog I want to talk about how No problem was the Nordstrom way

No problem…two words. These two words empowered every employee at Nordstrom to use their best judgement. The number one goal was always to improve customer service. Giving people the power to do that is one step in have world class service. Of course you have to hire the right people or it could be a disaster.

Jet

On a busy floor it can be quite hectic sometimes. When it’s not busy you run a list and call people out when they are needed. When you are crazy busy sometimes you have to hand out numbers to the customers. When a salesperson is available you then call out their number, unless you have a jet on your floor. Mike can you take another? “No problem chief” would always be the answer.

He was amazing to watch. He can handle 2-3 with no problem after it depends on how bad you want to sit someone down. He would always take more though. That’s why he was a corporate pacesetter. He always had good ideas on how to improve things around the department too. Plus he always had a lot of energy too.

Mike was also an artist too. He had a sign company and did quite well with the business. He made banner signs and painted windows for businesses. He was quite good at it. His company was called Jet signs which fit.

He was pretty funny most of the time and we always had great conversations. He was a pretty upbeat guy. He pulled his weight in the department when we had to have stock assignments and lead by example. Mike was great to work with.

James

I mentioned before some of the silly things James did to make people laugh when it was slow. He had a great sense of humor and really knew how to make customers happy. He was intense too. There was no doubt when he wasn’t happy with you. But he was always professional and respectful. I loved working with him. He was fun to watch in action as a floor watcher.

His big thing was doing the right thing. No Problem was the Nordstrom way and what James lived by. I would always have a second set of eyes making sure people were doing the right thing. I appreciated James for this very reason. He never had an issue with anything we would ask, no problem…

We also were both Raider fans. He had really good seats to the stadium and invited me a few times. I would meet him at his house and spend a little time with his family. He had a really nice wife and super smart daughter. From there we would meet up with some people and tail gate before the game. That was half the fun of it all. We always had fun together and I enjoyed hanging out with him. He would be someone I could hang out with after work. Just a really good guy.