Sometimes I am surprised and yesterday was one of them.

While my wife was shopping for food at Nijiya Market - the Japanese supermarket in Mountain View, Ayumi - my 10 mo. old daughter - and I went to Grain D'or Bakery in the same strip mall. Grain D'or is related to Andersen's Bakery chain where I frequented often when I lived in Tokyo. We get excellent premium white and raisin bread there.

Also, I normally sit with Ayumi and have a cup of coffee and sometimes a cheese danish. They brew Mr. English Coffee from my favorite coffee shop in Los Altos. This time however, they had run out of all the freshly-brewed coffee, except de-caf. When I told them that they needed to re-fill the "high test" coffee, they offered me a free cup of espresso for the inconvenience. Nice touch, but hardly blog-worthy. Patience.

As I was having my coffee, an elderly person in a wheelchair came into the restaurant and one of the staff helped her to the table next to mine. She was going to have lunch in the cafe. At the same time, out of joy Ayumi let out a huge shriek and the elderly woman commented how loud she was. It was understandable so I moved to the outside tables to give her some peace --- after all she is paying good money for lunch, too.

Here is the blog-worthy service item --- after I finished my coffee and brought the mug inside, the same staff person came and apologized again for the lack of fresh coffee AND to tell me how adorable my daughter is and thank me for moving to accommodate the elderly person. It is the kind of service and commitment you unfortunately don't find here in America, but is commonplace in Japan.

As Seth Godin puts it, it is part of Grain D'or 's purple cow and what makes it remarkable. I recommend that you visit the store at 137 E. El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040 (650) 210-9488.