Customer Service is Alive and Kicking!

Who would have thought I'd find superior customer service at Home Depot? I have a wide window in my bedroom. When I first bought the condo I put up a blind. It's been falling apart for about two years. Hubby made a valiant effort at fixing it which gave it another year or two.....albeit on life support. Somehow Spring being in the air nudged me into finally getting a new window covering. This time I decided to go for a traditional shade of the room-darkening variety, since there is a lovely street lamp right outside our bedroom window. After checking online at different places, Home Depot seemed to be the way to go. I was lucky that someone else was getting a shade so I didn't have to hunt down a salesperson. The girl Amanda was knowledgeable, quick and efficient. She knew exactly what I wanted and got it cut to my specifications in just a few minutes. I went through the self-serve lane......gotta love those, don't ya? I use them whenever I can. I don't need no stinkin' salesperson. The only thing this cash register didn't understand was that I did not want to bag my shade!! The metallic voice kept repeating "please bag your item". It didn't want to listen to me saying, NO! Anyway.....I digress. After Hubby got home he agreed to put up the shade for me. (Thanks, Hubby!) When he put the shade up to the window.......it was too short. IT. WAS. TOO. SHORT. By TWO FRICKIN' INCHES. I should know better than to try and measure anything. I stink at it. Really. I knew that I was supposed to add 2 inches to account for the tape measure, but I didn't. I didn't add the two inches. So instead of a 46" shade, Amanda cut a 44" shade. Which is what I told her to do. Sweet Amanda. I shlepped back to Home Depot all the while trying to figure out how I was going to finagle out of this one. The shade cost $35 and I didn't want to have to pay for a new one because of my measuring disability. I walked up to the service counter and just said, "This shade is too short". The customer service person says, "Who cut it for you?" I didn't want to throw Amanda under the bus but I had no choice. They called Amanda up to the front and asked her to cut me a new one.......with no questions asked. Did you hear that? NO. QUESTIONS. ASKED. Amanda went back to the shade cutting area while I squirmed at the front of the store. She came back with a cheery, "Here you go!" I felt really guilty so I had to ask. "You aren't going to get into trouble, are you?" and I had to add, "Cause I know think it was my fault." She says, "Oh no, not a problem. It was probably my fault but either way it's okay." I was so impressed I went home and emailed a letter to Home Depot, thanking them for their customer service and extolling Amanda's virtues. I got a response this morning (less than 24 hours later) thanking me for my kind words and promising to forward my email to the store manager. It's so satisfying to see such great customer service. I knew it still had to be out there somewhere.