Jim,
Yes, those were my three choices.
#1: Would you call your partner to come back 30 minutes later to pick up your laptop and cell phone (or whatever else you really care about when you travel) in advance of a 3 week trip? Would you feel happy in this situation for want of three kilos?
#2: Would you check in your laptop and your wedding rings on a flight to New York, let alone Cape Town? You know what happens to valuables in checked luggage, particularly on international flights. They disappear. Inevitably. Would you feel happy in this situation for want of three kilos?
As for #3... Would you pay $454 for the same food on ceramic plates and a slightly wider seat? I'm 5'8" and small-framed, so I can't tell the difference anyway. So, yes, it seems ridiculous to distill it to "I paid $454 for 3kg," but that is indeed the sorry state of the affairs.
As for the pain and potential hearing loss, well, yes, actually I do take that somewhat seriously. What could the flight attendant have done? Something like "Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'll be sure to get someone to look at that. In the meantime, here's the email address for our customer relations team who can help you further when you get back home. Can I get you a cocktail for now?" is a hell of a lot better than indifference. Would it have made the pain in my ears go away? Probably not. Would it at least have me felt like a human being?
This is why Southwest is the only US carrier to remain consistently profitable. They have more flights than anyone else in the industry and among the lowest fares, and yet they somehow manage to score the highest customer satisfaction year after year. Heck, they sent me a birthday card. And, yes, I get that they send that to everyone and that it's just a form letter, but you know what? It feels nice. And it cost them ~$0.50 to put a little smile on my face. It isn't hard to delight people. Just make them feel valued and important, even if it's the same trinkety **** you give everyone. Try to smile a little. Hell, when I was a kid we still got little plastic wing pins or stickers.
Why is a little human empathy and comprehension of basic customer service and lifetime customer value / loyalty so difficult to comprehend? Are we all so jaded and bitter that we think this is the norm for how we should treat each other?
Are managers so profoundly incompetent and unable to train and enable employees? You know why Southwest employees are happy? Because they're taught how to do their job well, work together as a coherent team, and have the latitude to make the right decisions at the right times. And that makes them good at their job and valuable, which in turn makes them feel important and valued. This, of course, makes them happy and thus capable of actually caring about their work, creating a virtuous cycle. Loyal employees, loyal customers, loyal shareholders. Easy, baby. Try to give a ****. You might change something.
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