A few days ago, I was going through a journal which threw up an interesting article written by Azim Premji. It had something to do with ethics, human values n so on. I began reading. In the middle of the article he had quoted an interesting anecdote.
There is a milkman, Mr.S, his assistant, Mr. K and a buyer, Miss. S. (Names are changed intentionally to allude to the intended audience)
Miss.S goes to Mr.S to buy milk every morning. And apparently, for reasons unknown, Miss.S can’t help herself being rude when asking for the Milk. It’s like trying to be in-your-face rude types. But Mr.S would always give the Milk without making much ado about it, much to the surprise of the on looking, Mr.K and at times Miss.S.
This keeps happening over and over and Mr.S continues to be totally calm and composed about it. One day, Mr.K gets curious and asks Mr.S why he continues to be so polite to her, in spite of the trash she gives him. Mr.S replies by saying that being rude is her part. That is something which is imbibed in her. Why should her behavior or character dictate mine?
This made me sit up and think what would I do in such a situation? Would I react the same way as Mr.S? I told this same story to one of my cab mates and asked how she would react in such a situation. She said that she would follow the same policy as Mr.S. I asked was she sure? She answered saying that her primary concern would be to not to lose a customer. She gave all the “gyaan” on customer satisfaction and its imperativeness. She even suggested that I should be attending a couple of sessions on customer satisfaction and so on. Well, alas, I couldn’t have expected anything less from a person who is going to a B-school soon.
But I bet a million bucks that she would react differently in the actual scenario. I believe, we all draw our lines on “how much is too much” and we all have a big ego to keep. Considering these, it would be really difficult to do a Mr.S every time. Period.
What would you do in this Hamletian quandary?
5 comments:
Yes, we do draw our lines as "how much is too much"...
When it comes to me, I will try to be as Mr S.This is nothing to do with so called CUSTOMER SATISFACTION....
My firm belief is , you should be what you are. Your identity should never be driven either by circumstances nor by the people you deal with.you tend to loose your SELF by doing so.
Few in our lives are always "Talkitive", Few always "Sielent" , Few always "Teasing",Few always "Moody" and Few always "Smiling"...
That is how it is...:)
Well, you've made a tough choice :) But its really something to be what you are, when being tested by people like Miss.S !
Everyone goes through "the test" in pretty much the same way. For some the threshold is very large. For the rest, "very large" threshold may seem infinite.
For example, if im in a restaurant and the food is rubbish, i would get up and leave. Whereas a friend of mine, would ask for the waiter and give a firm washdown.
Am I a push-over or am I patient ?
For each one of us what is "passable" and "not passable" varies wildly. Like the milkman. And his assistant.
I think our inherent qualities have a lot to do here - a patient guy would keep taking it and doing his own job, until he has a really bad day and snaps; an indifferent guy would just keep on doing his own job, caring a heck about what she dishes out, as long as she keeps his business running; a headstrong guy would give it back to her, and run the risk of losing his business, thinking he is better off than having such weirdos as his customers.
But until the situation is hypothetical, we all think and do the "right" thing, but when it actually happens and you are asked to justify - you tend to rip it apart and bring your state of mind (the kid was crying all night), the circumstances under which it happened (KMF gaaDi supply bandilla, neevu nan mele yake regtira?), the audacity (alla, nan angaDi ge bandu nange awaaza?) etc etc into picture...
Unless it is in your nature to keep a cool head at all times, I doubt anyone can fit into those shoes easily. Your personal characteristics spill over into your personal life.
NRN once said - ethics in business is something personal - if you are not an ethical man, it is highly unlikely to run an ethical business. You are bound to slip somewhere.
Good for people to know.
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