When will companies learn that communication is of vital
importance and would actually help THEM have a much easier existence?
This morning, I had to be up at 4 AM as we had inventory at
the store where I work and heaven forbid they have it at normal business hours
and lose sales. Our company hires
an outside organization to help with our inventory. Just for general reference, it’s a Monday morning, after a
major snowstorm that blanketed the entire east coast of the United States with
over two feet of snow.
My alarm rang at 3:54 AM (I always set it for weird
times). I got out of bed and
walked sleepily into the bathroom to get washed. It takes a minute for warm water to flow, so I turned on the
faucet and waited patiently. After
what seemed like a long time, the water still was not getting warm. Just then, my husband came up the
stairs with a note in his voice that always tells me something is wrong. The heater was not firing. We have oil heat so when it doesn’t fire
we don’t have heat OR hot water, which is especially bad when it’s 12 degrees
outside.
Getting washed with cold water wasn’t fun; sitting on a very
cold toilet seat is also not a barrel of laughs. My husband called our heating company as they supposedly
have an “Emergency Line”. So, by
4:10 AM, we put in our first call.
Meanwhile, I got dressed and headed out to work, in the cold,
in the dark, on the partially snow covered roads. Thankfully, my husband drove me to the store. Still waiting for the heating company
to call us back, our cell phones were in our glove-covered hands.
The bright lights of my store looked welcoming. I could see the cars of my fellow
employees in the parking lot, but the van that should be there to bring the
inventory company's employees was nowhere to be seen.
The Assistant Manager of the store opened the door for
me. He is a nice, funny young man
who I always look forward to working with, next to him was another part-time
manager who is one of the hardest working people I have ever had the privilege
to work alongside. As my husband
started to pull away, they told me to stop him. Apparently, the Supervisor of the job from the inventory
company couldn’t get to our store and therefore the inventory was cancelled. All of us, the workers from our store
were there. We had prepared for
the week prior and if inventory was not taken today, most of our work was for
nothing, not to even mention the fact that we had all woken up so early, on
such a cold, dark day after a blizzard, to be there.
Why didn’t they know earlier that she couldn’t be there? Why didn’t they call our store manager
or our district manager before we were all there? Wouldn’t she have known or at least had an inkling the night
before that she couldn’t make it??
Communication!!!!!! All of
us were not only annoyed, our company wanted us to clock right out, so we were
destined to have done all of this for nothing!
During this time, my husband had gone home as a co-worker
said he would drive me back if the inventory company couldn’t find another
supervisor. Once again, the
communication of the inventory company, internally, and to us, was severely
lacking causing a continuation of confusion and anxiety.
The parallel side of this is that my husband and I were still
waiting for a call back from our heating company. My husband texted me when he arrived home to say he still
hadn’t heard anything, so he called the “Emergency Number” again. Once again a woman, who is probably
just part of a generic answering service, took our number and said someone
would get back to us.
At 6 AM the inventory company had finally contacted the
Manager of our store with their definitive answer, the inventory was to be
cancelled! All the work, all the
hassles of fighting snow covered roads to get in, all for nothing!! We were told to clock out and go
home. Thankfully, my prior
manager, who was there as our company supervisor, drove me home.
I walked in the door to find my husband frustrated to no
end. He had not heard a thing from
our heating company. It was now
after 6 so it had been two hours.
Our house was freezing cold and who knew if the pipes were going to
burst?!! Some emergency
number!!!!!!
At 6:30 AM he called again, at 7, I called. I asked why we hadn’t even received a
call back as it was now already 3 hours since our initial call. She said all she did was leave
messages. What’s the sense of
that? If an EMERGENCY number just
leaves messages, why not just have an answering machine? What difference is there to the
customer if there is no actual SERVICE behind the number? And, why don’t they tell you, after the
initial call, that you won’t hear back until after normal business hours? I did ask when the office of the
heating company actually opens during our last call to the emergency
number. She told us they open at
7:30 AM.
My husband and I sat under blankets, wore gloves, and
continued to wait for some word.
We gave the office a few minutes to get in and called back at 7:35. A woman answered the phone at the
actual company; thankfully, it was no longer the answering service. However, the woman was beyond rude
right off the bat. She said we
were on the list and someone would be here sometime today. My husband tried to convey the fact
that we were concerned about our pipes bursting and that we were freezing in
the house. My 88-year-old mother
lives with us, which is an added concern.
The woman at the heating company could not have cared less. My husband asked if we could get a
“window” as to when we might expect some help or if someone could at least call
us back to tell us something we could do to keep our pipes from bursting which
would only be a bigger problem for them to fix and a more expensive problem for
us. With a note of annoyance, she
told us we would hear from someone this morning. Now why did she have to be so rude? Why couldn’t she just have told us that
from the beginning?
Communication!!!!!
The inventory company could have avoided extra hassles to everyone by
cancelling the night before OR at least by 3 AM this morning! The heating company could have informed
us that the emergency number just takes the message and passes it along to the
company when they open at 7:30.
The woman at the heating company could have answered the phone with a
smile and told us she knew of our issue, had contacted a repairman, and he
would be out this morning! Both
episodes would have been so much easier for everyone had common sense
communication taken place!
Here’s the message I am trying to communicate this
morning. When an issue comes up,
as issues always will, be honest, confront it as early as possible, and
communicate a solution or a timetable to a solution, clearly and nicely. I don’t understand the benefit of
anything less!! It doesn’t help
the person with the problem as they become frustrated and annoyed and it doesn’t
help the company involved, as a frustrated, unhappy customer will eventually
lead to a failed business.
Thankfully, the oil company repairman has now been here for
over an hour and he is knowledgeable and friendly. Had the office been as professional, I would be now writing
how great it was to have the problem solved before lunch. A positive perspective is enhanced by clear,
honest, friendly communication. We
are not adversaries unless forced to feel that way.
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