It was a cold, rainy, and icy day in Columbus, so Elizabeth, our Director of Guest Happiness, and Katie, our Operations Director conspired to surprise our guests with a thermal pot full of hot chocolate when they arrived. We always have packets of hot chocolate stocked in our meeting spaces, but Elizabeth and Katie thought our guests would appreciate having it already made, ready to pour.

As fate would have it, the thermal pot we used must have been suicidal -- or otherwise at the end of its life expectancy -- because as they filled it with hot water and cocoa, it promptly exploded in a messy, wet, chocolate death. And, of course, this was moments before the guests arrived. The guests still had hot chocolate if they wanted (the packets, mind you), but they didn't get the pleasant surprise we had planned. Unfortunately, this time the surprise was on us.

What made this our favorite spark today:
In spite of the malfunction, the fact that our staff was thinking about how to turn a crappy day outside into a better day inside for our guests made this one of our favorite sparks yet. Overall, it would have been an easy, small gesture with a big customer-focused payoff. And it makes a great story to tell inside our company.