We’ve all seen that smile before.
Your ice cream is melting fast in your shopping cart, and after waiting in line for five minutes, you stand face to face with a store representative at the customer service counter. You are there to ask a question or lodge a complaint.
For most customer service reps, you get a lopsided smile that is begrudgingly plastered on their face – you know it’s in part to cut down on your complaining – before the clerk even knows what you want.
A very special person always delivered a nice greeting. That customer service rep who genuinely smiled at you for three decades at the Giant in Thorndale is Helen Hoffman or “Miss Helen.” Her smile is big and real.
I chatted with the 72-year-old, retiring Giant employee as her smile lit up the entire market.
On a random day, both fellow employees and customers took turns hugging and smiling back at Miss Helen.
Customers couldn’t get their bags of groceries and carts past us since we’d blocked the aisle – and they didn’t care. Most knew Miss Helen and everybody in the store could tell she is somebody special.
Daughter Shelley Hoffman said her mother is a celebrity.
“People flock to her,” she said. “That’s just what people do with her.
“She never met anybody she didn’t like. She knows everyone and we can’t go anywhere without someone recognizing her.”
Giant co-worker Diana Fuller said that Hoffman would give you the shirt off her back.
“She will go above and beyond,” Fuller said. “She treats everybody right.”
Miss Helen talked about why she enjoyed working the customer service counter.
“I like helping people – to help brighten someone else’s day by giving them a positive experience, because you never know what someone is going through on a daily basis,” she said.
Not everything was perfect.
“I don’t ever like saying ‘NO.’ she said. “It was my job to do everything possible to make sure that the customer left satisfied.”
Is the customer always right?
“Not always,” she said. “But the trick is having the finesse to make them think they are, and being as kind as possible about it.
“That’s why they call it ‘Customer Service with a Smile.”
Miss Helen interacted with celebrities.
“I worked with one too – early on in my career I worked with Suzanne Richardson of ‘Eight is Enough’ fame at Pantry Pride,” she said. “And, Dick Vermeil, former coach of the Philadelphia Eagles was a regular because he lives in the area.
“I told him I knew who he was and that my husband Jeff was a big fan. He said, ‘Thank you, Helen … that means a lot’ and I was shocked that he knew my name, but then I realized he read my name tag.”
She talked about why the job was so special.
“After three decades, we are more like one big happy family than anything else,” Hoffman said. “I also like the fact that they are so charitable to our community and give back in many ways.
“I processed quite a few donation requests through the years. And, I love that they employ individuals with disabilities through the Handi-Crafters program.
“They are my angels on earth and they will always have a special place in my heart.”
In May of 2016, Miss Helen’s co-worker, Mr. Bill, a member of Handi-Crafters who has special needs (diagnosed with disabilities and on the spectrum) moved in with her. It was either move in with Miss Helen or go to an assisted living center. At first some wondered if it would work.
Miss Helen told me the pair have become the best of buddies.
Miss Helen’s first job was at the movie theater in Coatesville where an usher named Jeff, who walked her home, became her husband.
She also worked retail jobs at Newberry’s in Coatesville, Pantry Pride, A&P, and IGA/Food Arena.
Miss Helen loves to entertain and bake for her Giant co-workers as the “caterer of choice.”
The retiree also told me that occasionally she’d mention the “Turkey-Hill Flavor of the Day.” When I asked her what it meant, she smiled and said, “everybody loves ice cream.”
I pushed her further and finally she said the phrase was code between co-workers for an attractive man.
Miss Helen also told me that she liked handling food at Giant. Her favorite days were spent working holidays. Her co-workers often complained that Miss Helen couldn’t refuse any late-comers after the doors should have been locked.
She told me she loved the excitement at the Giant.
“You never know what somebody is going to say,” she said, while flashing that smile.
There will be a Giant Big Bash which is open to the public to recognize Hoffman on her 73rd birthday and for her retirement, from noon-6 p.m., April 30, at the Caln Municipal Park Pavilion, in Thorndale. You can send well-wishes to Miss Helen at PO Box 1408, Coatesville PA 19320.
Bill Rettew is a weekly columnist and Chester County native. He likes to quickly get in and out of the market, but Miss Helen joyfully slowed him down. The best way to contact him is at [email protected]
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