Customer Service – “Put Them in the Freezer”

A couple of years ago I was on a fight from Toronto to Montreal, and then connecting from Montreal to Saint John.  When I stepped off the flight from Toronto, I went to the lounge area for some food.  When I sat down, I glanced at my leg and saw I had something sticky on the right thigh of my pants.  The sticky substance seemed to be gum.  I guess a previous passenger must have conveniently disposed of his gum below the window to the right of the seat. I had presented at a conference in Toronto and I was wearing black dress pants, so the gum was very visible on my pants.  

So, I visited the agent at the lounge with two thoughts in mind. First, would they pay for dry cleaning, and second, they’ll likely want the opportunity to clean that gum so another passenger wouldn’t have my experience.

I approached the lounge host.

Customer Service Expertise

“Hi I just stepped off flight 123 and I have gum on my pants. There must be some gum by the window.  I was in seat 6A.”

“Just put them in the freezer.”

“What??”

“Put your pants in the freezer.  The gum will come right off.”

Putting my pants in the freezer was impractical as I was wearing them. I continued.

“I thought you might want to get the gum cleaned from that seat, and I’d like to know if you’ll pay for the dry cleaning.”

“Oh. I’ll try to let someone know, but for the dry cleaning, you’ll need to see someone in customer service downstairs.” When someone says they’ll ‘try,’ that’s never much of a commitment.  Do, or do not.

I went downstairs to customer service.

“Hi I just arrived on flight 123 and I have gum on my pants. I was in seat 6A and there must be some gum on the side by the window.”

“Just rub an ice cube on them.”

“What??”

“Rub an ice cube on the gum. It’ll come right off.”

These guys were experts at gum removal. Not at preventing future gum stains on pants, but strong on gum removal. 

Customer Service Culture

Later that week dry cleaning removed the sticky gum, at my personal expense. I remain puzzled at the customer service philosophy of this airline. When I identified an easily fixable problem, I received advice, but no compensation. Admittedly it wasn’t a large expense.  And there was no thought to preventing a similar incident with another customer on a next flight.

That service behavior still puzzles me.  The agents were very friendly, and offered advice. They seemed very pleased that they knew how to remove the gum. They knew how to fix my problem, and clean my pants – maybe this is a common occurrence.  However, they displayed no urgency or interest to prevent the next incident with the gum at seat 6A. I have to think it’s pretty easy to share a message for a minor cleanup at a specific seat on a specific plane.

Does company leadership behave in a similar way with employee issues? Are they outwardly friendly and supportive, but without a view to prevention of future issues?

Building Company Culture

Building culture takes time. Hire, train, articulate goals and mission, empower and evolve.

Here’s a good resource on assessing company culture https://www.achievers.com/blog/5-simple-ways-assess-company-culture/