As I collect stories about customer service, it occurs to me that our notions of good customer service play out in the folklore of our nation, and no one stands taller in the folklore of America than Abraham Lincoln.

Before he was President, and even before he was an attorney, Lincoln managed a small country store. Two anecdotes from this period account for Lincoln's nickname, "Honest Abe."

On one occasion, while doing his bookkeeping at the end of the day, Lincoln realized that he had overcharged a customer by three cents. He immediately stopped what he was doing, traveled a considerable distance on foot, and returned the money to the astonished customer.

Similarly, Lincoln one day discovered that his scale had malfunctioned, resulting in a customer receiving less tea than she had purchased. Once again, the young clerk traveled a great distance on foot to make up the deficit.

Contrary to our images of pastoral innocence, the America of Lincoln's youth was a brutish place, and business was governed by the maxim caveat emptor - let the buyer beware. This is why country folk considered Lincoln's honesty exceptional. Lincoln saw that the foundation of good business practices is a devotion to fairness. And the responsibility for fairness rests on the shoulders of the business, not the customer. As Lincoln's honesty became the stuff of legend, it set the standard for ethical business behavior.

At first glance it seems odd that in both cases, Lincoln was lauded merely for correcting his own mistakes, but the business literature on customer service often revolves around tales of recovery. A company providing consistently good service gets taken for granted, whereas a company that goes out of its way to correct a mistake and satisfy a disgruntled customer often turns that customer into an evangelist, winning praise and enthusiastic referrals.

Today, we take for granted that commerce is supposed to represent a fair exchange between business and consumer, and we enact consumer protection laws to discourage dishonest practices. To earn a reputation for outstanding customer service, companies must do more than correct their mistakes - they must also provide some form of premium or "hassle compensation" to regain the trust and loyalty of unhappy patrons.

As the land of opportunity, America owes a great debt of gratitude to Abraham Lincoln, not just for his political and moral wisdom and courage, but also for his role as a customer service hero.