For employers in our current job market, it’s a buyers market (to say the least).   Hiring managers and HR staff should be having a field day finding people that have the skill set, personality, and experience that match their needs.   With so many educated, qualified, and eager applicant out there,  employers have the pick of the litter.  Which is why I am puzzled by this story.  A 40 year old female teacher at a school in Houston, Texas beat a 13 year old student while in the classroom this past April.  And I’m not talking about a few slaps and a headlock, she gave this kid a real beatdown complete with stomps, punches, and trash-talk.  Unbelievable right?  Well it was all captured on video by another student recording it with her/his camera phone. (see  teacher beats her student)

After watching the video, my first question was who interviewed this woman and said “oh yeah, she’s exactly the loving, nurturing, teacher of the year candidate that we’ve been looking for”.   I know that I sound a bit judgmental, but watch the video for yourself first.  It appears as though she not only came dressed for the occasion, but had been practicing this during her free period.

My point is this: carefully choose and invest in the people that will be on the front-line of your business dealing with your customers.  I understand that people send their “representatives” to interview for them, but often times the writing is on the wall if you look close enough.  As the boss (principal, manager, director, HR person, etc.), it is your personal responsibility to ensure that you protect your business and your customers by investing in only the best; despite the job or what it pays.  I see this often in the fast-food industry, owners don’t want to invest the time in training or money to pay a decent wage so they get what they get.  They pay for it in the end though with either a short drawer, annoyed customers, or, in this case, a beat up kid (which usually comes complete with a ton of terrible press and a lawsuit).  So pay now, or pay later, the choice is yours. Just keep in mind that the later you pay, the higher the cost (like airfare).

At the end of the day I hold the person responsible that basically paved the way for this teacher to do what she apparently does when she gets angry. what I’m saying is that there should be 2 new positions available at a small charter school in Houston, TX…. Hey, the job market is improving!!!!

About a week ago, My wife and I were in Las Vegas for the Mayweather-Mosley fight. Months earlier, I booked a room (at a really good rate) at Vdara Hotel and Spa, A brand new MGM property located at the new $8.5 billion City Center entertainment, retail, and hotel complex. Driving up to the hotel I was extremely impressed by the hotels design and architecture; for second I felt as if I was in Dubai or on the movie set of a futuristic movie. The lobby and lounge area were very chic and “New York” sexy. The rooms were immaculate, spacious, comfortable, quiet, well appointed, and the view of the Bellagio water show was perfect. I felt like I had truly arrived.

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Unfortunately, it’s a very good possibility that I won’t stay at Vdara then next time I’m in Vegas; it certainly won’t be my first choice. The reason is simple: I witnessed and experienced some pretty questionable customer service.

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After standing in line for a good 20 minutes or so I finally reached the front desk to check-in. Upon my arrival at the front desk, i realized a possible reason for the long wait. I witnessed a drawn out exchange between an unhappy (and seemingly pretty unreasonable) customer and a front desk supervisor. Now, mind you, I did not know the depth of this customer’s concerns and was only nosy enough to catch bits and pieces of the conversation, it seemed the guy WAS off of his rocker just a bit. The bottom line seemed to be that this guy wanted an apology for a comment, made to him by another agent that was offended by. Simple enough right? Grant him a (seemingly) sincere apology, and get this nut away from your front desk. Well, the supervisor refused, the battle continued, and I was off to my room (where i later experience a little bit of questionable handling of my own).

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The point is this: Treat paying customers well, especially when its easy to do and at no cost. This supervisor could have done a lot by simply saying “On behalf of the entire Vdara staff, I offer my sincerest apology for your experience.”. Instead, you have a long line of customers, tired because they have traveled from all over the world to experience the splendor of this beautiful hotel, waiting and watching the supervisor argue with a customer. This certainly is not the first impression that you want to make to optimistic customers checking in, nor to the, now jaded, one that was checking out (looney-tune or not). This give people something negative and drama-filled to talk about, and you can just imagine that story they guy involved is going to tell (and how many times). Everybody loses.

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The lesson here is challenge yourself and your staff to practice unusually exceptional customer service; especially to unreasonable customers. Kill them with kindness. If not for them, then do it for others that may be watching. For the customer involved, even if she/he is not totally satisfied, they are less likely to bad mouth you. For the customers looking on, they are much more likely to tell others about the exceptional customer service that they witnessed- mainly because it’s so rare these days.

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For the 2 fights that I saw that weekend there was only 1 winner and 3 losers:

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Mayeeather (W) Vs. Mosley(L)

Crazy Customer (L) Vs. Vdara (L)

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