Most of my life I have been working with the public or business customers.
I still remember back to 1988 when Apple let employees working out of our Columbia, MD, office get cell phones so we could call our clients to let them know when we got caught in one of those infamous Washington beltway traffic jams. The phones were expensive but worth it.
Today practically everyone who can walk has a cell phone, and there are myriads of ways to contact people. In spite of being so connected that it is hard to get away from one another, I actually do not think technology should be blamed for the inexcusable way that people today often treat each other in our over-connected world.
I would likely lay the blame at the feet of the modern trait of caring more about self than others. However, one way or the other, we have reached a deplorable situation.
The trip wire for this blog post actually started last week. We received a call from a local banker telling us that the on-line mortgage that we have had for several years on a home in the Charlotte area had been transferred to his branch. He wanted to meet us. We were busy and told him we could meet him this week. We agreed upon a day and time which he actually told us worked better for him than his original request.
We value our own time and that of others so we showed up at his bank two or three minutes before our appointment. It is not our normal bank, but we managed to connect with him as we walked into the bank. He told us that he would be with us in five minutes.
As we were sitting down, my wife noticed a banner behind the tellers touting that one of the core values of the bank was "courtesy." It turned out to be a pretty ironic banner.
The bank was typical of a modern branch office with a very open floor plan where everyone could see everyone. After waiting about twenty minutes without further attention, I told my wife that I was ready to leave.
Being the calm one in the family, she convinced me to stay another five minutes. Our wait quickly turned into twenty-five minutes, and even she was ready to go. We got up and walked over to the tellers who had mostly been expectantly looking for customers while we were waiting to talk to the banker.
I told them we were leaving, and the banker could call us and arrange another appointment when he could actually meet with us.
As we reached the door, the banker came running after us saying that he was sorry but that he had gotten a walk-in customer and had been running behind all morning. I mentioned that it would have been very easy to walk over and tell us that he was going to be late, or even better he could have saved us the trip by rescheduling the appointment by phone.
Little of that seemed to register with him. It was almost like he didn't seem to understand that we value our time and had better things to do than twiddle our thumbs in his lobby.
It has often irritated me that someone who drops in unannounced often gets priority treatment over someone with an appointment. It is obviously understandable in emergency situations, but it is particularly egregious when someone proactively brings you into their office only to effectively stand you up.
I am not stranger to appointments or unscheduled meetings running over. I have had numerous job candidates in the office or on the way to the office when something made everything run late. However, common courtesy dictates that when things are delayed that someone pick up a phone and try to alert people so that schedules can be adjusted.
To not make that call or effort is plainly rude and shows little consideration of others. Unfortunately our society seems to be making this the rule rather than the exception.
It is easy to get lost in the forest of modern life and not see the important tree that needs attention, but by placing little value on the time of others, we create a society that will continue to get worse.
Recently I placed a simple call to someone with whom I worked for a few years. I had a real quick question that I thought they wouldn't mind answering. I didn't get a call back. I actually wasn't really very surprised since the person was terrible at returning calls when I was working with him. He had a particularly annoying habit of talking to you while reading his Blackberry. In effect he was too "busy" for me then. Nothing has changed except that I doubt I will be referring any business to him in the near future.
During the holidays, I forgot to return an email. As soon as I figured out that I had let someone down, I sent an apology and rescheduled the commitment that I had made. Everyone makes mistakes. Thinking they will go away by themselves is where most people go wrong.
Long ago I figured out that it is far better to admit up front that you cannot do something than it is to promise something that you cannot deliver. It is also better to admit a mistake than to try to cover it up with excuses.
Delaying the admission that you have a problem just makes addressing the issue that much harder.
We can all make excuses for the banker, but none of them hold much water. He didn't value our appointment enough to tell the walk-in customer that he had a commitment that he needed to keep. Perhaps the new customer who had garnered both his attention and that of the other banker will be worth more than our business.
It is ironic that we were very satisfied with our on-line mortgage until it got a bricks and mortar presence, and the face of the company became someone who made us feel ignored.
I have to contrast the treatment we received today with how well we have been treated by the bank down the street and our long time bank in Roanoke, Va. I feel like a valued customer at both. I still remember a vice president at our Roanoke bank making certain that we knew that she would not be available for signing some documents. She certainly didn't have to be there for the signing, but it was really nice of her to care enough about us to let us know she was thinking about us.
If we treated other people just like we would like to be treated, our world would be a whole lot better place.
