Give 'Em the Pickle

You are always reading about my Rhino Principle escapades. Well, here’s a new principal about which you may not know. The Pickle Principle! Find out how customer disappointment led to one of the best customer responses ever!

The other day I was chatting with my eldest son. He had the phone on ‘speaker’ mode so my granddaughters could join in the conversation at will. After the usual questions of inquiry about “What are you doing for fun today?” or “What happened this week that you really liked?” the girls became somewhat less interested in what my son and I were discussing.

I was about to share some ‘sensitive’ information with my son, so I prefaced it by saying, “I was in a bit of a pickle” indicating that my son needed to take the phone off speaker before I continued.

However, after making the pickle comment my seven year old granddaughter suddenly became entirely engaged in the conversation by loudly exclaiming, “You’re in a Pickle?” She was completely tickled by the idea and I was again delighted by the magic of a child’s ‘figurative’ interpretation of things. Now every time she calls me she asks, “GG, are you still in a pickle?” to which I reply, “It’s my new house!” and we both laugh hysterically.

Making Magic

Whether when performing or raising my children, I strived to create magic….the kind of magic that would make memories to last a lifetime. I’m very good at making magic out of air…it’s connected to my ‘living by imagination’ approach to life.

For example. I took care of the children while my son and daughter-in-law were on vacation last year. One evening at dinner the girls told me they were just too full to finish dinner. “Luckily”, I said, “there’s ice cream for dessert and ice cream fits in the cracks!”

I’m not sure my daughter-in-law will be convinced by this bit of knowledge when her daughters try it out on her, but the slogan is another special tie between the girls and me and one I know each will remember all her life.

What Pickles and Ice Cream Have in Common

You may not believe a pickle could make a difference in a customer’s opinion of a business, but  Bob Farrell of Farrell’s Ice CreamParlors knew the importance and his understanding made all the difference in the world to his customers and his success.

I figure tucking a little perk in a package  along with one of our ‘love notes’ is just the kind of thing that would make Bob proud of Hide A Heart too.

Just click the picture to get the pickle skinny!

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