Edit: I have been known to stand up and stretch sooner than I used to. These days I take pictures of receipts instead of using a scanner. Some of the links no longer work.
Originally posted August 31, 2010 on AIXchange
I’m old enough to recall when airline travel was a stand-up comedy staple. Why do comedians talk so much about flying? I imagine the biggest reason is that they’re on the road so much, it’s familiar territory for them.
And, as a consultant, I can relate. In my travels to and from customer sites, I spend considerable time moving through airports, sitting on tarmacs and waiting at car rental counters. And even though I’m no Seinfeld, I have some observations of my own.
For instance, why do airline passengers insist on standing up immediately after a flight? They just jam the aisles and slow down the deplaning. Why can’t they stay seated, and then leave the plane row by row? I understand the need to stretch — we’ve all been sitting for a long time. But give it five more minutes. Once you’re off the plane you can stretch all you want.
Anyone who’s ever flown can probably rattle off a half dozen annoying things about air travel. But at least the part about tracking business expenses and getting reimbursed has become easier for me. That’s because I found a moderately priced portable scanner. Instead of waiting till I get home to scan all my receipts, now I do it the moment I buy something on the road. Really, keeping track of receipts has become a breeze.
Flying on a regular basis, one tends to develop strong preferences regarding particular airlines, hotel chains and car rental agencies. A single experience can turn you into a loyal customer — or a former customer. For me, when it comes to hotels and car rentals, flexibility is the key. I may need to cancel a reservation at the last minute, so I need to know that I can make that happen.
The whole flying experience reminds me once again how critical a role employee attitudes play in business. And that’s something we should all keep in mind. A friend displays in his cubicle a list of the 11 commandments of good customer service. You can easily replace the word “customer” with “user” or whoever it is you work for:
1. Customers are the most important part in any business.
2. Customers are not dependent upon us, we are dependent upon them.
3. Customers are not an interruption of our work, they are the purpose of it.
4. Customers do us a favor when they call, we are not doing them a favor by serving them.
5. Customers are not cold statistics, they are flesh and blood human beings with feelings and emotions like our own.
6. Customers are part of our business, not outsiders.
7. Customers are not there to argue or match wits with.
8. Customers are people who bring us their wants; it is our job to fill those wants.
9. Customers are deserving of the most courteous and attentive treatment we can give them.
10. Customers are the people that make it possible to pay your salary, whatever your role might be in the company.
11. Customers are the life-blood of this and every other business.
On an unrelated note, here are a couple of useful links. First, a presentation on POWER7 blades. It’s a 30MB file, so be patient when downloading.
The whole site, which I’d written about previously, is worthy of your investigation. There’s a lot of good training material here.