We have fun telling you about really bad customer service stories, but we need to be fair. Plenty of companies are doing wonderful things that go above and beyond what we might think of as “traditional” customer service responses.  This list from the website Mental Floss , offers some pretty amazing stories and even a few heart-warming ones.  The “take-away” from each of them is that when a company goes well beyond the norm, the news gets out. The customer in question is going to tell that story again and again, meaning your company will benefit from positive word-of-mouth advertising, the best kind of advertising of all.

How about Morton’s Steakhouse? It responded to a somewhat tongue-in-cheek request, broadcast by an influential p.r. guy over Twitter, to have a steak delivered to his gate when he landed at the airport.  The Steakhouse did just that—plus put in the time to drive from their restaurant, find where he would be and even add napkins to the dinner package. That was a brilliant public relations move in response not to a complaint, but a jest.  Worth emulating!

Then there was the Southwest Airline pilot who HELD THE PLANE for a man he knew was arriving late to the airport.  Now, as a flier, you might be a little ticked off if a plane you were on were held for some lout who was late. But, this flier was heading off to say good-bye to his dying grandson. ‘Nuf said. The pilot knew what his company would want him to do.

And, when a snowstorm kept an 89-year-old at home with no food, his daughter called several groceries to ask if they delivered. They didn’t, but Trader Joe’s made an exception. They delivered food to the man and, get this, did not CHARGE for the food or the delivery. Read the rest of some pretty amazing stories here.