I spent yesterday in the large hospital in Cambridge having treatment under general anaesthetic. I was amazed at the variety of "customer care" on offer from the various professionals I was in contact with. Good, bad, and indifferent in the space of just over 12 hours. Some of the good - the nurse who admitted me and explained what she was going to do and why before doing it; the theatre nurse who recognised I was scared because I stopped making eye contact with her, and upped her care and attention accordingly; the anaesthetist who joked "Here comes the gin and tonic" as he injected me; the nurse in recovery who explained they were worried about my heart rate and why and what they were going to do. Some of the bad - the nurse who crept up on me and stuck a thermometer in my ear without asking my permission, explaining what it was, or even telling me she was going to do it, and then walked away without once speaking to me; the nurse who clearly had "favourites" on the ward even though we were all similar day surgery cases and gave different care (and food !) accordingly.

After having been starved for my anaesthetic and only given toast and jam after it, we stopped on the way home at a roadside eaterie where all the cooks are very small. Message for the serving staff - if you can't manage to bring me a hot toasted sandwich and a cooked bowl of chips together at the same time, it costs nothing to say "Here is your toastie, your chips will be along in a minute" rather than just dumping it down and walking off, leaving me to wonder whether I had ordered chips at all, or if they had misheard or had forgotten...

So today's funky tip must be - tell your customer what is happening and why, even if it may not be what they want to hear. It makes the experience so much better for them, and often saves them needing to raise a query - or make a complaint.