I ordered a cup of tea with lemon when the flight attendant, Tim, asked for my drink order on my pre-dawn flight this morning. A couple of minutes later, Tim walked back to my row, kneeled down on the floor, and with a troubled look on his face he told me, “I don’t have any lemons.” He seemed so distressed about this citrus crisis that it made me laugh out loud. “I want to go check in the back, but I can’t get past their drink cart. I promise I’ll get to the back as soon as I can,” Tim said with great urgency. I assured him that it wasn’t a big deal, but Tim was genuinely concerned when he apologized again. It was really much more traumatizing to him than it was to me, and I giggled again after he walked away.

I continued with my work, sipping my bare and natural Lipton without a second thought. True to his word, Tim showed back up a few minutes later with a wedge of lemon barely big enough to be skewered, and he declared “It’s the last one!” He was like a Survivor contestant who had found the only coconut on the island. I was impressed that he had cared enough to remember, and even more impressed that he made good on his promise without any prompting from me. For me it was a non-event. For Tim it was a true moment of reckoning. Yet again, it made me giggle.

In great contrast, when I was renting a car at my destination city, the Thrifty car rental representative didn’t seem nearly as concerned that he didn’t have the economy car that I had booked. I’ve noticed in the last year or so that car rental companies can’t even give their larger vehicles away. So, they literally give their larger vehicles away - to economy car renters for economy car prices. Not wanting to refuel a mammoth vehicle, though, I was put in the position of having to plead for the small car I had booked. As if doing me a favor, the Thrifty guy called around, and then told me I would have to wait 15 extra minutes for the privilege of getting what I had asked for in the first place.

I did choose to wait, to the surprise of the Thrifty guy who apparently didn’t have too many people take him up on the extra-wait option. When my “small” car arrived, it was actually a mini SUV instead of the minivan that had been assigned to me 25 minutes before. When I went back to the counter to once again insist on the car size that I had booked, the woman helping me this time said, “What happened was we gave you a free upgrade!” I carefully explained why this gas guzzler did not represent an “upgrade” to me. I finally settled for a mid-size mini station wagon because I was tired of waiting, and even more tired of demanding.

I realize that the travel industry and the retail industry are different entities, but customers are customers, service is service, and expectations are expectations. What struck me today is something that applies to every business with direct customer contact, no matter what the industry. That is, you can’t fool customers into thinking that you care about them when you’re really only concerned about your own welfare. Continental cared a whole lot more about my experience with a sliver of citrus than Thrifty cared about my experience with their $20,000 vehicles. Thrifty was making a buck. Tim, and by association, Continental, was making a friend.

While economic conditions can thwart your ability to make a profit, nothing but your own choices can block you from making a friend. In the long run, which is going to have more value?

Kohls opened 46 stores today. Forty-six grand openings in 19 states in one day. In many locations there were Black Friday size crowds, with lines of shoppers winding around the buildings before dawn. Buried somewhere in today’s simultaneous turbo growth explosion the 1000th Kohl’s store opened its doors. Then within minutes the 1001st, 1002nd, and 1003rd opened too. It was a big day for Kohl’s.

The interesting thing about this day in Kohl’s history was reading the press releases about it. The obvious story angle of the retail phoenix rising from the economic meltdown ashes was ignored. Instead, the company’s PR efforts went green. Forty-five of the newest Kohl’s stores have met the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED standards for environmentally friendly buildings. Kohl’s did everything it could to make sure America’s shoppers knew that. Instead of focusing on how much green it had in its bank account, Kohl’s wanted shoppers to focus on how much green it had in its buildings. It was a brave day for Kohl’s too.

Kohl’s could have done a lot of different things with the positive spotlight that was pointed at it today. Its direct competitor, Mervyn’s is in the process of closing 15% of its chain in order to turn the page in its chapter 11. J.C. Penney’s heavy back-to-school promotion of its new Dorm Life brand yielded a 4.9% decrease in sales. But Kohl's chose not to focus on the financial side of its own business or that of its competitors. Thank goodness somebody is finding something else to talk about.

The green message that Kohl’s delivered today wasn’t chosen randomly, and it wasn’t chosen last week. Kohl’s has been working on its green initiatives for years. It now has the largest group of retail buildings with an Energy Star label for superior energy efficiency and environmental performance. And while Kohl’s can’t compete with WalMart on many levels, it has beat out that retail behemoth on a solar level. Kohl’s is also now the largest retail host of solar power, and its distributed solar program is the largest in the world among retailers.

In every green-related press release that I have seen Kohl’s issue, it makes sure to remind consumers and stockholders that it is “a family-focused, value-oriented specialty department store.” Kohl’s tells us it has values, and then takes action to prove that it does. How refreshing! If asked what the difference is between Mervyn’s and JC Penney, I would be hard-pressed to come up with a definitive answer besides the size of their stores. But today’s marketing messages, consistent with those issued over the past year, have firmly positioned Kohl’s in my mind as a truly green retailer.

Most businesses that are tooting their own green horn these days seem to mostly be interested in the publicity they can get from posing as green with superficial green gestures. Conversely, Kohl’s used a legitimate publicity event today to push an authentic green agenda. I feel like Kohl’s deserves one of those Mastercard commercials in recognition of its efforts.

Cost of opening 46 stores in a single day: huge.

Risk of doing it in a crumbling retail economy: enormous.

Cost to employ renewable energy sources in 75% of your retail chain: gigantic.

Value of earning genuine respect for putting your values into action: priceless.

For everything else there’s the other store. What was the name of that place that used to be across the street?