I was born in a time and at a place where it was inconceivable to have a flushing toilet, not only in the house, but in the entire community – simply no infrastructure and facilities. So, using pit toilets was the norm, although my parents managed to have some plastic tiling sheets in the pit toilet, the thought and actual visit was usually scary – and I remember once at school I had to go visit one, but because of the horrid smell when I was just about to step in, I decided to squat just outside the toilet.
After I was done, there was a buzz around me and as I stood there was a business of flies hovering over and tasting my deposit – that image of the business of flies and related smell is nothing of a rarity for many. So, naturally, before most people even know a fly’s history, they start associating with an experience similar to mine.
I recently went to a relatively premium sports club, which has a decent restaurant. My recent visit was for breakfast – I ordered their best breakfast and a coffee.
The food was hearty and tasty, and the coffee was quite good as well. A good meal makes anyone very happy and this restaurant always comes to the party. Food 100%!
In between my bites, I kept on sipping my coffee and each time I took a sip, something always hit my lips and went back lower in the cup – I never really bothered looking inside the cup, as it was still foamy most of the time, up until I took a sip where something went straight onto my tongue – I had no choice but to spit it out into my hands – and there it was, a dead hardened green fly in my palm.
All that food that I had enjoyed so much, now just wanted to race back and out through my mouth – I was disgusted!!!
My thoughts – HOW COULD SUCH A PREMIUM RESTAURANT BE SO NEGLIGENT??? The next natural step is to SHOUT AT THE WAITER WHO IS serving a lot of people at the same time – trying TO MAKE EVERYONE EXTRA HAPPY – DELIVER RIGHT ORDERS ON TIME, REMEMBER ORDER CHANGES FROM undecisive CUSTOMERS and TREAT EVERY CUSTOMER LIKE a QUEEN or KING!
My waiter was busy with other orders, all the other waiters and managers were running up and down doing their best to make everyone’s needs met – some of the needs related to providing fly repellent fans – as most patrons preferred to sit outdoors. When I saw the rush and buzz, that flash of disgust disappeared in a split second.
How often, in organisations, are people expected to perform beyond what is controllable by them, and forced to take blame for things out of their control?
Who are you?
The customer? The boss? The waiter? How do you handle such situations of “crisis” or less than expected results? How do you feel long after the occurence?