Page 134 - The Voice of Authority

going to make you stand here while the service people try
to find somebody. I’m going to get you another car myself.
I’ll be right back.”
By the time he drove my car up in front of the terminal
to meet me, I was calm again. Why? He sounded as put out
with the service people as I did. He was fully engaged with
the situation.
On the other hand, there was my stay at a major hotel
chain, which had staffed the front desk with a robot in hu-
man form. The front desk staff couldn’t find a package that
had been shipped overnight to me. The package had ar-
rived because a recorded message on the phone in my
room reported the fact that the front desk was holding the
package for me.
But when I returned to the front desk for the second
time to retrieve it, the agent there still couldn’t find it.
“What exactly do you want us to do to make it right?” the
front desk agent chirped robotically.
I explained for the second time that I just wanted them
to look until they found the package. I watched as she
glanced under the counter for all of 15 seconds.
She repeated: “I’m sorry, but we can’t locate the pack-
age. What would you like us to do to make it right?”
I repeated my wishes: “Please find the package—look in
the back. In your Lost and Found area. Wherever. Just look
until you find it.”
“I told you that we looked and we can’t find it,” she
chirped. “And what exactly do you want us to do to make
it right?”
“I want you to find the package.”
I wanted engagement with my predicament. An attitude
of concern. Both the hotel and the rental car agency made
mistakes. But they generated two very different reactions
from me—the customer.

122 The Voice of Authority