| From the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 36* F
Ho Ho Ho…. Are you ready for the holiday season?
I am having a tough time this year getting jolly, though I am not sure why… It must be the non-existent service we are getting around these parts.
Yesterday, my wife, Gina, sent me to the dreaded hardware store to buy a couple spot lights for the house. While she thinks they are decorations, I think they are landing beacons for extra terrestrials.
I searched the holiday decoration isle: nuthin”
I searched the light bulb isle: nuthin”
I searched the outdoor lighting isle: nuthin’
I did everything I could to avoid having to talk with one of their untrained employees. But the lights were not to be found.
I broke down. I asked an employee. Sigh…
“Where might I find outdoor spot lights” I asked.
“If you find them, let me know” replied the employee.
“Seriously?”
“Yep, this is my department (outdoor lighting), and they are not here”.
I implored, “Where could I find them?”
“Try the holiday decoration area“, he said.
“I did, they are not there“, the irritation rising in my voice.
I decided to try a different approach: “If there was not a ‘holiday section’ in the store, where would they be normally?” I figured this line of questioning would work. I figured wrong
“They would be in China” was his snarky reply.
Suddenly, the Dr Seuss song from the Grinch popped into my head:
You’re a rotter, Mr. Grinch
You’re the king of sinful sots
Your heart’s a dead tomato splotched with moldy purple spots, Mr. Grinch
Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful
Assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knots!
And I left.
What does this story have to do with your business? EVERYTHING!
Clearly, this was a very unhappy person who should not be dealing with the public. He may very well have some positive traits. Communicating with customers was certainly NOT one of them. But maybe there was a job off-stage that he would be really good at. Say, watering plants.
Walt Disney realized a long time ago, that all people were different. He knew that there were some people who would make great on-stage cast members (employees). Conversely, he knew that there were people only fit to work the overnight shift cleaning the park. No guest interaction.
Do you have these types of people in your organization? Go look and find out.
When I worked at Disney, we called people like this mis-cast that needed to be recast to suit their abilities and the companies needs. We did not fire people like this. We tried to find the right role for them to play in our show. |
