This CNN.Com story is pretty sick. Funny in some places, but deeply troubling in others. The absolute worst employees I ever dealt with are at Air France. If my experience is representative, they are openly hostile and proud of their incompetence. In The No Asshole Rule, I talk about why I once had strategic temper tantrum at six Air France employees who were so busy talking to each other that they seemed to totally forget that dealing with customers was part of their job. I was a bit concerned that my French publisher would be unhappy about putting this story in the French version of the book, Objectif Zéro-sale-con. I didn’t know whether to be relieved or upset when they told me that Air France was infamous for bad service, especially toward people who don’t speak French!
Fry’s Electronics in Palo Alto is a runner-up for me. They aren’t hostile, just hapless and poorly trained. My experience is that they are always trying to sell you things that you don’t need, including accessories that don’t work with the camera, TV, or whatever you are buying from them. The saving grace at Fry’s is the customers. There are a lot of very knowledgeable and helpful people in Palo Alto; indeed, I’ve witnessed (and benefited from) customers who interrupt and correct Fry’s employees who are giving bad advice!
To return to the CNN story, here are of my favorite pair of bad examples from the story:
Forget about clients
The last employee to leave a
child’s day care center in Dallas accidentally left a 14-month-old girl
locked inside alone; not realizing the child was still there. The girl
was found safe and sound, according to police reports. (Source: The
Associated Press)
In a separate incident, while a 73-year-old
woman looked through her safe deposit box, employees of a California
Bank of America accidentally locked her in the building, according to
authorities. The cleaning person called police when she found the woman
unconscious and cold to the touch. The woman apparently passed out
because she hadn’t taken her diabetes medication. (Source: The
Associated Press, MSNBC.com)
P.S. An important footnote. Employees who are this incompetent usually act this way because they are victims of a bad system, bad management, or both. As I’ve emphasized here before, when leaders focus on getting rid of crappy systems, the problems with "bad people" often evaporate. Although I should hasten to add that even the greatest companies have a few "bad apples."
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