Simon Goodway – illustratör

“Why? is filled with relatable rants about a subject Martha Humler knows well: customer service. My wish is one day stories like these will be few and far between—but in the meantime, I hope Martha’s book gives you a giggle.”

—Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager®, Legendary Service, and Raving Fans

“Martha’s stories are a lighthouse of actionable insights for service professionals that are swimming in a sea of mediocrity.”

—Dr. John Timmerman, Chief Scientist, Customer Experience & Innovation, Gallup

We’re all consumers, which means we’ve all been frustrated by poor customer service.

Martha Humler, who spent her career in retail and advertising and is married to one of the kings of customer service—an executive with the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co.—shares her frustrations about mediocre customer service in a series of vignettes.

Along the way, she delivers common-sense tips and strategies that managers, leaders, and companies can use to cultivate a culture that revolves around customer service. In fact, this is one book business owners should provide to all staff. Topics include:

- self-checkouts and why they might not be the best way to slash costs;

- ways to keep delivering service after the sale;

- providing small amenities—like bread at restaurants—that build goodwill; and

- ways consumers can speak up to demand better customer service.

If you’ve ever left a drive-through window only to discover missing items, received items from an online purchase that look nothing like what you ordered or are tired of long-winded answering messages with dozens of prompts, then you’ll laugh out loud at these relatable rants.

We all want to have friends. But sometimes, theres something that makes us different from others. In many cases, that can make finding friends difficult.

But as author Christopher Knott-Craig, MD, shows in his book, The Weird Animal Club, that doesnt have to be the case. All the characters youll meet have a physical difference of some kind. It causes them to feel lonely and sad, until they find other animal friends who are also different. They all become friends and learn that being different means they are special, and being different is good.

The Weird Animal Club teaches people of every age that differences dont matter when it comes to making friends. Friendship happened for these animals, and it can happen for you.