Can your business handle a pre-holiday glitch? Sometimes, size will allow you a small bit of grace from customers… in others your size will prevent a fix (you will just have to roll with it and hope for the best) and in other cases, it will just be too big to recover.

Hopefully, it is one of the former two options.

This weekend, I felt like I was in the movie, Mamma Mia when Meryl Streep was telling her girlfriends if something doesn’t work, just walk away and (making shooing motions) it will all resolve itself. IFYKYK.

What I did not do? Let it just sit.

No, I placed another (nearly duplicate) order.

Still nothing.

Not in my app. Not in my e-mail. Not in my online account. (Yes, I checked them in that order.)

Luckily, I stopped there and did not place a third order. If we had, I know that I would be looking for cheese puff soup recipes. What we WILL be doing however is having a taste-testing party to see what flavors and brands we like best. A flight – if you will – and what might pair well with each one.

Any suggestions?

Saturday morning, I knew I needed some fill in items for the weekend. Just groceries a few staples and a few snacks. I didn’t want to have to go to the market also. So, I placed my order, and then waited. Typically that early in the day I get a fraction of the 2-hour window alert “Your Order Is Ready”.

Two hours went by. Nothing. Hmm. Ok. It is 5 days before Christmas, maybe they’re busy. Maybe I have overestimated the time since I placed the order. Hmmm. No record of the order. Maybe I didn’t hit “Confirm order”. (As if I am new to this process. I assure you, I am not.) So (as you know) I placed another one. Still nothing…

Later in the day the alert came in; 1 of 2 orders is ready. Then, a few minutes later, 2 of 2 orders are ready.

“Come and get it.”

Today, about 48-hours later, I get this e-mail. (See pic)

Easy for you to do Target. A $20 gift card. Simple. Small. Humble. Plus, follow up with a survey.

The gift-card redemption cost? A blip. The customer recovery…we will see. (My guess. Not much of an impact.) But, if this was a small local business, I wonder what would happen?

My hope…not a devastating loss. Not now. Not ever. We need to be patient, all around, but especially with the small peeps who are just trying to deliver something special, local and different.

It isn’t easy, yet entrepreneurs continue to do it. Over and over again.

For Target, the cost of this pre-holiday glitch in their advanced tech is more likely felt in the stress on the team because it was happening five days before Christmas. Later, this week and next, the cost will be realized on the effort in the research needed to proactively fix it so it doesn’t happen again. Hopefully, it doesn’t involve a staff or supplier change…I know that none of the customers would want that – even if we have a few (way) more cheese puffs than we really need.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl