Perform for the King, be Kind to the Fool

Like you, I am a customer. I choose what to buy, from whom, and when. I like to be met by a friendly face, not kept waiting for too long, and enjoy being treated with decency and respect. For example, when I send a package to the other side of the world, I like guaranteed delivery, and once promised a delivery date and time, that’s what I expect. Put me on an airplane, and I like to sit in the seat that I reserved. These are small things, but they make me feel appreciated. Customer is king, the old saying goes. Or perhaps just the simple pleasures of having a not-so-invisible hand in the free market game. But where do I draw the line? In a time when companies now use phrases such as “high performance” and “high commitment” in the same breath, how far do I go as a consumer in tolerating a worrisome lack of humanity? While these same high performing companies are highly committed to meeting their customers’ every need, I am concerned that their employees don’t always get the same consideration. Can the front-line employees who deliver my package or check my boarding pass expect to receive the same commitment from their “high performing” employer that I do as a highly-valued customer? What I see more and more are examples of companies trumping their highly-committed employees in the process of going the extra mile for their customers. About a month ago, I was walking down a street in an upstate New York town on a rainy day. A courier car approached an intersection, swerved while trying to stop, and collided into an oncoming pickup truck. The driver of the truck was fine, and jumped out to help the courier, who seemed unhurt in his seat but clearly shaken by what had just happened. I called the police, and rushed over to see if I could help. While we were waiting for the police, the courier driver radioed into base to report the accident. Within minutes, another courier driver working for the same company arrived, got out of his car, and approached the car of his shaking colleague. What a show of support, I thought. Yet without a word to his colleague, the newly arrived driver pushed his shaken colleague’s seat forward (with his colleague still in it) to retrieve the packages lying in the backseat. A bit stunned, I asked the new arrival whether he was going to help his colleague. “What do I look like? An ambulance?” he said, snatching up the packages and speeding off in his car. The mail must get through. But at what cost? An event I witnessed last summer at a midwest airport tells a similar story. A yuppie traveller approached the boarding gate, and was told by the gate agent that it was now too late to board the aircraft. The plane was minutes away from take-off. Enraged, the yuppie screamed at the gate agent, and stepped behind the boarding gate to scream at closer range, brandishing his first-class ticket. The agent stepped back, and warned the traveller to return to the other side of the desk, otherwise she would alert airport security. Yuppie refused saying he wanted to board his flight no matter what. Fortunately security quickly arrived. While security dealt with the yelping yuppie, the duty manager and the agitated gate agent chatted privately, but luckily just loud enough for me to overhear. The frazzled agent urged her boss to ban yuppie from the next flight, fearful of how he might treat her, other agents and even fellow travellers. In this age of air-rage, who could blame her? Much to my surprise, the duty manager instantly dismissed the agent’s concerns on the basis that the airline couldn’t afford to disappoint a first-class customer. The duty manager then insisted that the now tearful agent start issuing this “first-class” customer with a first-class ticket for the next first-class flight. See what having lots of air miles can do for you? I phoned up the “high performing” courier company the afternoon I saw the graceless act of camaraderie at the accident scene. I did the same thing last summer with the airline which would prefer to please another customer before supporting an employee in a time of distress. In both cases, I described to the service reps the incredible acts of compassion I had witnessed. Then, I asked how I could become a highly valued customer of one of their “higher performing” competitors.

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Perform for the King, be Kind to the Fool

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