I want to share a poignant experience I had and then relate it to human interactions (which I also call customer service).
Recently I visited Ground Zero for the first time, having, like most of the world, been fixated with the news reports, surfing channels for the latest updates and frantically checking daily to be sure nothing happened while I slept. I had occasion to watch it more than most since three days prior (September 8) I had a very severe tennis accident, breaking my left arm, and left leg and so was a captive audience for the TV.
At any rate, there I was at Ground Zero, the week between Christmas and New Year’s. As you can imagine there were lots of people walking around New York, with tourism probably at its height. There was a cordoned off area to walk through to see the site and the memorial created with memorabilia from those lost in the World Trade Center as well as wishes from visitors. The crowd was tighter than any subway in rush hour traffic.
However, what was unique to this crowd was the reverence, deference, quietude and honoring of each person’s space—the simple consideration given to “other.” When asking questions or directions from the local police, the response was given quietly, respectfully and with dignity afforded the person asking—probably something they’d been asked hundreds of times already!
Imagine what our lives would be like if we treated our co-workers (not to mention our friends, family, acquaintances, etc.) with this kind of respect and dignity. It’s what we call win-win!
Excepted from Lay Your Cards on the Table: 52 Ways to Stack Your Personal Deck, p. 19. Rosanne D’Ausilio, Ph.D., Purdue University Press. All rights reserved. Available at www.human-technologies.com