by Bongani Matshisi
After months of putting it off, I finally decided to get a new laptop. After doing my research matched with my needs and my budget, I was able to zero in on 3 options. When I got to the store, the gentleman (of the most charming kind) who helped me described the pros and cons of each of the options I was looking at and after a little while, we settled on the winner.
I then proceeded to the checkout point to pay for my new acquisition. For some reason, my debit card would not work. And it wasn’t because I had no money in it. The cashier tried once. Declined. She tried twice. Still declined. Not wanting to risk blocking the card, we thought it best to stop there.
With some quick thinking on my part (even if I say so myself), I came up with a Plan B. Being a store that sells high-tech equipment, I knew they had to have an internet connection. I would just transfer the money from my account into theirs. Edward, the aforementioned gentleman, made sure I had everything I needed and, ignoring everyone else in the store, was there to assist me at every step of the way.
Unfortunately, he told me, I had to wait until the next day for the money to reflect on their bank account before I could take the laptop home. No worries. I was in no rush.
The next day, on my way to work, by pure chance, I drove past Edward. He greeted me by name, which was nice, considering the number of customers he must interact with everyday. He told me to expect a call from him during the course of the day.
At 13:00 the call came. There was a problem with their systems and for that reason my payment was still not reflecting on their bank account. As already mentioned, I was in no rush to get the laptop. But when you’ve paid the kind of money I paid for it, you’d like to have something to show for it sooner rather than later. I couldn’t get upset, not with Edward at least. His hands were tied. What he did, however, was to ensure me that he would monitor the situation and if there were any developments, he would let me know.
At 16:00 on the dot, I got another call from Edward. There was still no change. He sounded a bit nervous, probably expecting me to go off on him. I didn’t. I didn’t because of two reasons: 1. It’s not the nicest thing to do and, 2. It probably would not have changed the situation. Also, Edward didn’t try to duck and dive in his explanation of it nor did he try to blame the system or anyone else for the delay. What he did was to give me a clear and concise explanation. Not only that, he gave me his word, which had significantly increased in value to me, that he would continue to monitor the situation, and if by 09:00 the following day there was no change, he would do whatever it took to make sure that I got my laptop that day. That’s all needed to hear.
And as promised, Edward called at 09:00 the following day to inform me everything was sorted and that I could collect my laptop whenever it was convenient for me...
As Tom Peters likes to say, the problem is never/rarely the problem. It’s almost always the response to the problem that invariably becomes the problem. I have found that people are pretty thick-skinned when it comes to a lot of things that we think they’re not. As long as people know you’re being straight with them, they’ll forgive almost everything.
I think there’s a lesson in that.
Another lesson to learn here is that people usually don’t remember how long the wait was. They remember what it was like.
