On a Continental Airlines flight CEO Gordon Bethune was sitting on the flight deck chatting with the Captain and First Officer as the passengers were boarding. He left to take his assigned First Class seat, to let the flight crew begin preparations for take-off.
A 'One Pass' Platinum Elite member boarded the plane. Seeing several First Class seats open, he began to argue with the flight attendant over why he had not been upgraded. The flight attendant said she would get a gate agent to look into it. The customer began swearing at her.
Gordon Bethune was walking down the aisle, on his way back from the flight deck, and heard his employee being verbally abused. 'Can I help somehow?' he asked. The passenger said 'Huh: Who the &#@^#& are you?' Gordon replied 'I'm the CEO of this company. May I see your ticket, sir?'
The passenger gave his ticket to Bethune, who saw a total fare of just under six hundred dollars. He pulled out his billfold, peeled off six 100 dollar bills, and placed the money in the man's hand.
Then he tore up the man's ticket.
'Now,' Gordon said 'You get the ~^&%@&#&=~ off my airplane.'
The flight attendant could barely keep a straight face.”
Excellent customer service starts with aggressive support of staff. Made happier by respect they get from management, staff will work more enthusiastically to make customers happy.
Source: http://www.eCustomerServiceWorld.com May 30th “Start the Week” e-newsletter. I highly recommend signing up for this weekly gem.
I hate to throw cold water on a great story, but "Start the Week" should start their week by checking their stories at Snopes.
I LOVE this story, I told it to several people yesterday. I wish it were true.
I think you have a great blog, David. I'm subscribed and am reading with pleasure.
http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/bethune.asp
Posted by: Dave Young | June 02, 2004 at 11:19 AM
Drats, Dave. It is a great story. Sorry to hear it's in the urban legend category. Still, it does make a valid point in a most vivid way. But learning about its lack of authenticity makes me feel almost as sad as I felt when I learned that there is no truth to the claim that a frog thrown into hot water will hightail it out of his spa, but will linger till he becomes helpless when thrown into a gradually heated tub of water. It's a good story about gradual change is less motivating than sudden change, but alas, we need a more credible metaphor.
Thanks for the kudos on my blog. I take it as a challenge to work even harder.
Posted by: David Wolfe | June 02, 2004 at 03:18 PM
Oh, no! I've always believed the frog story!
I guess turnabout is fair play.
Posted by: Dave Young | June 03, 2004 at 05:15 PM
Fast Company used to have a feature called "Consultant Debunking Unit. The magazine engaged some frogologists to test the old frog chestnut and found out that frogs are smarter than a lot of consultants think they are.
Posted by: David Wolfe | June 04, 2004 at 02:41 PM