Customer Service?

I am 37,000 feet above somewhere between San Francisco and Las Vegas. No longer are we stuck in the atmosphere passing time by reading insipid magazine articles. I am typing on my personal electronic device, the technical name assigned by the airline industry to my laptop. The ride is bumpy and even the stewardesses are sitting in their seats. You know the roller coaster ride is about to begin.

It is calm in the blogosphere, though. After spending the last five days at a software conference, I am glad to be heading home. Even though I love to travel, I am still a homebody. Nothing like being with your wife and kids - nothing. I am sitting here reflecting on the past week. For some reason I always remember the funny experiences. Perhaps it is because a software conference filled with 15,000 geeks is fertile ground for the ridiculous. As software professionals, we develop in languages that computers understand. We also speak to each other in another technically driven language.

When I arrived at the convention center, I needed to find the alumni lounge. This is a room that is set up for those of us geeky enough to have attended more than one of the eleven conferences held over the years. I was riding up the escalator and saw a booth as I reached the top.

Information Booth

Perfect! I can just ask where the alumni lounge is, I thought. I approached the booth and was presented with two middle-aged women. I was not greeted. “Excuse me,” I said to the one on the left. She was at least making eye contact with me now. The other woman still had not engaged yet. “I am looking for the alumni lounge.”

“Sure, honey,” she said. “It is in room 300.”

I guess it wasn’t obvious to her that I was a visitor to the convention hall and didn’t have the million square feet of conference space exactly mapped out in my mind yet. It was the first bloody day of the conference!

“Where is room 300?” I asked slightly annoyed. She reached for the map and started to scowl a bit. She looked up at me and pointed to the map. “Here, can you find it? I don’t have my glasses on and I can?t read the map.” As I started to study this convoluted graphical representation of the convention hall, it struck me.

Why didn’t she have her glasses on? She is working at the main information booth and can’t even read the map. I did not share with her the thoughts that were going through my mind as I tried to find Room 300. After I found the room and figured out how to get there (without her assistance mind you), I politely thanked her with a smirk firmly planted on my face. I could not help it.

Now that was another stellar example of customer service in the 21^st century. It is a comical example that reminds me to stay focused on my customers.

I wear contacts.