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Almost three years ago my family moved from Oklahoma City to Tyler, Texas. You would think that moving from a fairly large city to a small town would prohibit decent grocery shopping and that you would wind up shopping for everything at Walmart. (Now, believe me, I'm not knocking Walmart. It is the cheap one-shop-stop, and convenience does comfort my soul.) BUT, at the risk of being called a grocery snob, I would much prefer a grocery store for my groceries. Now, all that is to say, you would think that OKC's options for grocery shopping would be much larger than Tyler's, but actually the reverse is true. The Walmart Neighborhood Market was my best option across the Red River, but one of the most wonderful things about living in Tyler is Brookshires.

Three brief stories to prove my point. We moved here with a 4, 2, and 2 week old. Chaotic at best. I hardly knew a soul here, and my days were filled with nursing, picking up toys, and just trying to keep order. I made my first trip to Brookshires alone, thank goodness, so this won't be the crazy-mom-with three-kids-pulling-stuff-off-the-shelves-poor-pitiful-me-story. That will be my third one. But I first went to the Flagship Brookshires off of Rice Road accompanied only my purse.

I walked in, and at least three guys stocking fresh produce greeted me. First of all, I never saw anyone putting anything fresh out at Walmart. So this was immediately "refreshing," not to mention, their greeting me as I walked in. Being the new girl on the block, I didn't know where anything was, so I slowly wandered around to get my bearings. Lots of great specialty items, great looking fish (also not at Walmart), a real kitchen for visiting chefs to offer a class or two, fresh Boarshead turkey by the pound, and a good-looking bakery. I was impressed.

After filling my cart with lots of the necessities, I realized that I had missed one thing. Refrigerated pasta. Where was the refrigerated pasta? Well, before I had time to blink, another kind employee approached me and asked if I was looking for something in particular. She had seen my inquistive look. I asked about the pasta and she replied simply, "Oh, I'll go get it for you." She returned (seconds later) with two or three packages of each variety of ravioli that I had requested. "Which of these would you like?" I couldn't believe it. Was she some kind of grocery angel or something? She actually went and got the pasta for me instead of looking at me like I was an idiot or pointing in some general ballpark direction. I almost pinched myself.

And to top it off, as I entered the check out line, two efficient and very competent employees removed and bagged my groceries, rang me up, and one walked me to my car to load them. I offered a tip like my mom had years ago, and the bagger refused claiming that Brookshires did not accept tips. I smiled the whole way home.

The second story is probably what truly won me over to my local grocer. So six months into our move here, I had had another hard day. Hadn't left the house. The kids were so very needy, and I was still getting up in the night to nurse. One tired and grumpy mama. Greg kicked me out of the house, and I told him that I'd make the much-needed trip to the grocery store.

After making my rounds again at Brookshires, I entered the check out line. The familiar checker ran my "Thank You Card" (a frequent buyers discount card), and I waited. After a few minutes, the lady looked at me and said, "Oh, congratulations! You have won a roaster!" What? My sleepy, grumpy self looked at her like she was crazy. She told me to hang on a minute and came back carrying a brand new boxed roasting pan with lid. I did not own a roasting pan. Nor did I own a lid. I stood there stunned, asked her why I had won, and she claimed that I had spent a certain amount of money at Brookshires showing that I was a loyal customer and that I had won a roaster. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Still don't. But I did laugh hysterically all the way home thanking God for comic relief, for my roaster, and that He had chosen to bring us to such a wonderful town. Six months later I won luggage.

The third story happened two days ago. Not quite as funny, but amazing enough to put on paper. This time I had all three kids - 2, 5, and 6 year olds (definitely not funny). They know Brookshires well now and are past the extremely difficult phase grabbing things off the shelf or taking a bite out of the apples, but that day I did have alot of groceries and all of our patience was wearing thin.

It was about that time that Nathan fell, bumped his head, and started screaming. I tried to calm him down, feeling like, of course, the whole store was staring at the cart packed with my food and family. Within thirty seconds (maybe), the florist (did I mention the great floral department?) ran over and asked each kid about their favorite color. Minutes later she returned with three helium balloons in each color, and I had three smiling faces. But that was not all. Not surprisingly, as we were checking out, Nathan let go of the balloon and it flew to the top of the warehouse ceiling. We practiced saying "Bye-Bye Balloon," and I didn't give it much thought. But then the manager walked by and realized that my little guy (who isn't really that upset about it) was missing his balloon. He left and returned with one of those long poles that some of you may use for your gigantic closets - to pull down clothes on your second tier of summer shirts. He worked at it awhile, and was heriocally able to rescue that little blue balloon. Amazing. Surely he had something better to do with his time?

Now I am a natural cynic and very little impresses me. But really friends, are there any stores that you could think of with this kind of customer service? In my former grocery store experience, it was difficult to find an employee, let alone one that speaks to you, looks at you close enough to realize that you have a need, and is eager to help. And if that is not enough, Brookshires actually rewards your loyalty to them. Isn't that amazing?

Not sure how to end this...I don't have a jingle to sing or a sentimental picture to leave you with. Just wanted to share a positive customer service experience...they seem so rare....maybe if I print this out, and take it up there, I'll become Brookshire's poster child....I don't know...but regardless, I'll probably win a bird feeder or something next month.