Photo Credits: Stephen Witherden
Last Monday I traveled overseas and, while at the airport in Miami, I observed the behavior of two people working there. One was a food stand attendant and the other one a security agent for the TSA (Transportation Security Administration).
The food stand attendant was taking a personal phone call while serving customers, holding the phone with one hand and reaching for the customers’ money with the other. In the meantime, the line kept getting bigger and customers were getting impatient. There were breadcrumbs and dirty napkins lying on the floor around her, the shelves were missing product and the whole place looked untidy and neglected.
When there were no more people on the line I decided to buy a bag of chips, but before I could hand her my money she just walked away, leaving the stand completely unattended for around three minutes. During that time, customers who wanted to pay left their food and walked away.
The TSA agent was completely different. This guy was walking through the crowd lined up before the security checkpoint, acting like a rock star, greeting everybody and making jokes: “How you doin’ today sir? OK? Good! And how about you ma’am? Good? I’m glad… Happy passengers, that’s what I want…. New York Jets? New York Jets? You gotta lose that cap, buddy!….How are you, sir?….. OK folks, if the guy in front of you is not moving, kick him! …..How you doin’ sir?” He would then pause for a few minutes and repeat the performance with another group of newly arrived passengers. He even had some cool jazz music playing close bye.
Going through airport security ranks high as one of life’s most dreaded experiences (up there with getting a root canal or watching politicians apologize in public for their character flaws). However, this guy alone, with his positive attitude and personal touch made the whole experience different and almost enjoyable.
I don’t think it’s a matter of money. The difference in salary between these two people can’t be more than a few bucks an hour, however, one cared and the other one didn’t. It’s a matter of character and pride.
This episode made me think about Jim Collins’ remarks in his classic book Good to Great , when he talks about the need to “get the right people on the bus” first. What he means by that is that people are more important than org. charts and job descriptions, and that you should make sure that you hire the right people before you do anything else.
He is right, and under that perspective the TSA guy would get hired over the food stand attendant any time.
This is so right. People base so many decisions, consciously or sub-consciously, on how they feel. The right people, in any place, help others feel good and this can be the difference between a sale made, a crime prevented or expediting an often slow, painful process.
In our new church we are looking for volunteers to work the parking lot to give a great first impression. If the people come in the door with a smile on their face they are much better prepared for learning and growing. When they get out of their car and have an uplifting experience it will set the tone for the rest of the time there. Obviously the rest of the time needs to be positive also, but no matter how good the inside is, if they come in with a negative attitude it is nearly impossible to overcome.
I have found people will subconsciously defend their first impressions. If the first impression is good, very often it will cause the impressed to overlook even blatant subsequent negatives because they already “know” this is good.
I use this in my construction business often. There are parts of the remodeling process that can be painful to look at and other stages that are exciting to see. I try to organize the process so that the first thing the customer sees is the exciting parts to cause less concern over the painful parts – even to the point of doing the work in a less efficient manner. A couple extra hours of labor from working out of order are well worth the positive first impressions of a customer. It is very difficult to satisfy a customer that has a bad experience at the beginning of a job.
Mario:
You hit the nail on the head. I referenced this post at my “Real Women — Real Careers” blog. Attitude on the job — every job — counts.
Thanks for a great real life situation. I love the way you write. I could picture the situation so well. thanks!
Chris
@Chris Brown:
Thanks for your kind comments, Chris. I checked your post on your blog and agree with you regarding finding the right seat for the right people once they’re in the bus!
i think the comment “Its not what you know, not who you know, its what you stand for” is really a true true comment. I heard so many times over and over again. You gotta know somebody, to get something good. That is not true. Everyone has to stand up for what they want because everyone should have a equal opportunity at everything and if you go for what you want then you will get what you want. Not just who you know will help you or whatever but you have to believe you can do what you want to do and get it down by yourself and self esteem. Yes someone you know may be able to help you but that is not what you should count on when it comes to something you know you can do on your on.