I am on the road again, in Morgantown, WV for the start of a 3 day swim meet. Sheesh! Even when I am not traveling, I am traveling.
We stopped at the half way point for a little dinner at a Chipotle.
We should have got back on the highway and made a run for it.
The place was BUSY! Too busy to even clean up the dirty tables in the dining room; there was not a clean one to be found.
The kitchen looked like a bomb went off; food and trash on the floor, tables covered with discarded utensils, food buckets and unidentifiable slop (guac?)
Every employee was humpin’! All busy, no one idle.
When it came time for me to pay, I handed the cashier $60 for our $52.53 order.
This very young boy who was cashiering, looked at me sheepishly and said “I don’t have any coins”, and handed me $7 in change.
I asked for the remaining change, and he shrugged, and stated that there was a sign on the door.
And?…. I inquired…
Am I donating to Chipotle?
Another shrug.
How about this…. Give me another dollar and I will owe Chipotle 53 cents.
No dice
Luckily, my wife was next to me and shoved me out of line.
Now, before you think of me as some miserly Scrooge McDuck beating up on young minimum wage employees, just hold on a sec.
I did not mention the one critical cog in this wheel, that was painfully absent.
There was one glaring absence, any supervision.
Look, I know that many businesses cannot hire. But, supervising the ones you do have seems vital. Maybe Chipotle doesn’t care, but here is what I would have done to protect the brand called Chipotle.
- Supervision would be mandatory. Unless the supervisor is a complete Goofus, he/she could have been directing the employees.
- The missing supervisor could have also directed the employees to “maintain the high standards of the brand” by slowing down service and utilizing an employee to be on janitorial duty. Ensuring a clean, safe environment.
- The supervisor could have also authorized a crummy $5 gift card for a future visit due to the lack of change. Or empowered the cashier to do the same.
For you:
What is more valuable, a few extra dollars in sales today or losing the infinite sales of the future?
Too often, we look at the dollars flowing in when we are busy, and overlook details that we would otherwise enforce.
Afterall, sales hide all sins, right?
Nope.
The integrity of the experience you provide trumps all else.
BTW: the replay of Wednesday’s Minnie Mouster class comes down at 11:59 pm EST tonight. You can watch it here: CLICK
