A Red Flag in Front of a Bull…
Would have the same effect.
I’m angry tonight at the experience I just had.
- I don’t usually let things like this bother me.
- I was doing fine.
- Until he made a lame excuse.
Let’s start in the beginning…
- Tonight James and I met another couple for dinner.
- They are professional acquaintances.
- We went to one of my favorite restaurants.
Dinner started on a positive note.
- We had a nice table.
- Spouses met.
- And everything went downhill from there.
Our waiter took our order.
- James and I asked for the special.
- Sandwich, fries and a side salad.
We got our salad ten minutes after our entre.
- I like to eat my salad first.
- My veggie burger was cold by the time I got to it. (Yuck!)
- The server knew I was frustrated.
Because we were on a business dinner, I let it ride.
Next, we asked for separate bills.
- We paid with separate credit cards.
- Our server charged both checks to my card.
I was still in the cool zone.
- It’s a great place.
- Mistakes happen.
- I knew they could undo it.
Then the red flag started waving…
- The server apologized for all the mistakes.
- That was nice.
- UNTIL he blamed everything on only being there for three weeks.
That excuse rubbed me totally the wrong way.
- I didn’t care how long he had been there.
- I wanted a quality experience.
I stewed on the way home.
- Planning my blog post.
- And how to make it relevant to chapter leaders.
James asked me to check to see if the server boxed up all of my leftovers.
- I suddenly noticed the box was sort of small.
- I peeked inside - and found only half of my leftovers.
- So much for lunch tomorrow!
It was the straw that broke my back.
- I was ticked.
- Also felt a bit betrayed by the restaurant.
- (If the owner wasn’t a friend, I would be blasting even more!)
And so I pound out my frustration on my computer keys…
Makes me think of chapter leaders…when you make a mistake with your members, do you own it - or make the experience worse by offering a lame excuse?
Filed under: Board challenges
When I was working in membership I know I made mistakes and when I first started I would make lame excuses and guess what… Your members can smell it. They have a sixth sense for it. Then they get angry, frustrated and who knows what kind of effect it could have.
I learned that owning up to it and being honest as to why you haven’t done something is THE best policy when dealing with members and volunteers. They will respect you more for it in the end.
And when members hit that frustration level, with all the social networking tools, who knows where those stories could end up?
When it feels like there’s limited relationship, striking out is not personal. Another reason to lean towards relationship-building honesty vs. corporate cool.