Guy

What About Your Customer Experience

By Guy |

The hotel we’re currently in has made full use of the COVID hullaballoo to provide just the bare bones basics of service.

It’s a brand that boasts some of the finest hotels in nations all around the world.

But you would never know it, based on the low level of service in this hotel.

And it has apparently been like this for months because it was exactly the same when we spent a few weeks here about four months ago.

Here’s the deal.

One of the most basic services at any hotel is morning coffee.

Now, everyone in the hospitality and lodging business must know that nearly every guest wants to enjoy coffee every morning.

This hotel has chosen to meet that demand by placing a single coffee urn in an area that is crammed with guests and constricted by furniture.

So what we end up with is a crowd of people jammed into a small area in which “social distancing” is impossible* trying to get their turn at the serving spout.

Of course, the unwrapped wooden stirring sticks are also waiting there to be rummaged through by countless hands that have just touched the surfaces on doors and elevators.

And then, for those who like to pollute their coffee with creamers, sugar, and other poisons, the hotel staff has conveniently placed all those items in bins right by the single coffee urn so users have to stand there adding to the wait and extending the traffic jam.

Meanwhile, nearly 20 feet of empty counter space are blocked off by a sheer curtain that’s guarded by a sign warning people not to open the curtain because of COVID.

I’m not making this stuff up!

So, what’s my point?

My point is that nobody who is in a position to make a difference at this hotel has bothered to think through the flow of this simple service.

Listen. This pandemic thing has been going on for nearly a year now and it is unconscionable that nobody has actually considered what they can and should do to provide a better experience for their guests.

Bottom line, if you a business owner or manager or front-line worker–or anybody else in your organization’s food chain, for that matter–take a step back and view your product and service from your customer’s point of view.

Hunt diligently for anything that distracts from or hinders access to your product or service.

Then remove every barrier you find.

This is Business 101 stuff, for crying out loud.

Just fix it!

* For the record, while I understand that COVID-19 is a real and serious thing, my opinion is that the official responses to the pandemic have caused more harm than good. The cures of social distancing, masks, closed businesses, etc. have proven to be worse than the virus.

Image by Rob Curran via Unsplash

Teach Your Children

By Guy |

As a happy follow-up to an earlier story I shared, I wanted to remind you that there are many parents who are obviously raising their kids to be mindful of their roles as members of a community.

While the first story reflected on parents who missed an opportunity to train their kids to be community-minded–and just plain decent–people, this one was prompted by a little boy I observed cleaning up not just his own breakfast mess, but also those of his mother and father. He even grabbed some napkins, wet them with the hot water at the coffee bar, and then wiped the whole table clean.

This thoughtful little guy could not have been more than five-years-old, yet his parents had already taught him that it’s good to clean up your own messes.

His parents treated him as though they valued him, thanking and praising him for his great work and help.

And the boy beamed with pride, confident that he fit in and his parents valued him.

Even seemingly small things are huge.

Teach your children.

When You Say You’ll Pray for Somebody…Pray

By Guy |

Prayer is an priceless privilege.

When we lift our prayers to God we communicate with the very One who is eternal.

He’s the One who created us and the entire cosmos, both seen and unseen.

In the beginning God created…

It is through prayer that we share our needs, our fears, our concerns, and our desires with the One who is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at every time.

I know this intuitively but I was convicted hard several months ago for the many times I told somebody I would pray for them and then failed to do so.

Perhaps you can relate to this–perhaps you can’t.

My point is this: If you say you’ll pray for somebody, then pray!

Be deliberate about it.

Pray immediately.

Write yourself a reminder.

Whatever you do, do not fail to do what you promised to do!

When you tell somebody that you’ll pray for them, then above all else, PRAY.

Make your request known to God. The Holy Spirit will intercede and God the Father will hear the prayers you lift in the name of Jesus.

And God will answer, according to His eternal purpose and for His glory.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Paul — Romans 8:26-28 (ESV)

Dear friend. Don’t neglect the awesome privilege of prayer.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Teach Your Children

By Guy |

What are we teaching our kids?

The hotel I’m staying at provides a buffet type breakfast with the reasonable understanding that guests will pick up after themselves.

I was appalled as I watched a family of five–mom, dad, three kids–leave their table this morning after generally trashing the area.

All three kids were old enough to not only dispose of their own trash, but also to understand that it’s what polite people in a polite society do.

Instead, the family took their drinks with them and left their empty plates, napkins, partially consumed items, and crumbs for somebody else to clean.

Where was the sense of community?

Where was the evidence of parents teaching their kids to simply pick up after themselves?

I was reminded of some golden rules I learned many years ago when I was a child, and they’ve stuck with me ever since.

If memory serves me, I read these in an Ann Landers column, but I saw them attributed to several different authors so I’m not sure where they actually originated.

These are sensible.

And simple.

Learn them and teach them to your children.

Golden Rules

If you open it, close it.
If you turn it on, turn it off.
If you unlock it, lock it up.
If you break it, admit it.
If you can’t fix it, call in someone who can.
If you borrow it, return it.
If you value it, take care of it.
If you make a mess, clean it up.
If you move it, put it back.
If it belongs to someone else, get permission to use it.
If you don’t know how to operate it, leave it alone.
If it’s none of your business, don’t ask questions.

Amazon Refuses to Serve Parler

By Guy |

This is what a modern-day book burning looks like.

Joining other tech giants, Amazon (AMZN) delivered on its threat to block the social media platform Parler from its servers.

The screenshot above shows what appeared when I tried to access my Parler account this morning.

We are living on the leading edge of a great wave of censorship and it should terrify all who treasure their freedoms.

Along with the inherent right to bear arms, the freedom to express thoughts with which others disagree is foundational to decent societies.

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”
George Orwell

Censorship is tyranny.

And the fact that this censorship is driven from the private sector makes it no less tyrannical than if the government were blocking the speech.

“Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.”
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Our nation’s founders recognized not only the human right to free speech but also the danger of restricting it.

“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
George Washington

Sadly for America, the tyrannical blocking of speech by the big tech companies–e.g., Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, etc.–is tantamount to begging for government legislators and bureaucrats to strangle the life out of those companies through onerous regulations.

Big tech is signing its own death warrant.

And I say, “Good riddance!”