Choptankblog

Lanes of Thought

August 11.2010

So I just finished reading a few different articles on Steve Slater. If you aren’t familiar with who Steve Slater is (yeah turn off  The Jersey Shore  and get caught up on some current events here), he is the Jet Blue flight attendant that banged out the words “I quit” like the one-armed drummer from Def Leppard.

To some, this guy is a hero, but to the state of New York, he is a criminal. Let’s be honest here, this flight attendant certainly went a little over the edge, but anytime you can quit, grab two beers out of your employer’s fridge and exit via bouncy slide (he deployed the planes emergency bouncy slide, yeah tell me you have never wanted to go down one of those with two beers in your hand?), there is something to be said for this individual.

You have to kind of cheer for Steve Slater. Seriously, how many people have the nerve to do that kind of thing? In my opinion, he has earned his Captain Awesome stripes.

Apparently he had a very difficult customer on the plane whose bag fell out of the overhead compartment and hit him in the head. Slater asked her to apologize.  She started cussing at him and didn’t let up even after the plane had stopped on the tarmac!

We all have dealt with these types of people in the transportation business. You know, the customer who thinks no matter how rude or unprofessional they are,  we must  bite our tongue and service their every need?  These are the customers who probably back in high school got stuffed in their gym lockers, got laughed at, and had to hang out with the other unpopular kids.

So I say good for Steve Slater! Stand up and fight back to overly rude customers.  Don’t get me wrong, we are in a service industry and we still need to follow the golden rule that says “the customer is always right”  but when a customer takes advantage of that, there is nothing wrong in cutting your losses and politely telling them that you will no longer be doing business with them.  I don’t recommend doing it the Steve Slater “I’m-going-out-like-Chuck -Norris-in-Lone-Wolf-Mcquade  kind of way, but instead you can handle it by simply using these three words “Feel, Felt, and Found.” 

For Example, “I understand how you feel Mr. Customer, and I’m sure other people in your situation have felt the same way, but what they have found is…..”  And then go on to state your position. Try it, because I promise you it works!

So back to Mr. Lone Wolf Mcquade, er, I mean Mr. Slater…

How do you feel about how he acted? Do you think he is a criminal? Should we be able to lash back at rude customers? Post some thoughts on our FaceBook page,  We  would love to hear them!

-Jim Kirlin

Choptank National Sales