|
Motivational story: Vanilla
Ice cream
( Never underestimate your
Customers' Complaint, no matter how funny it might seem!)
This is a real story that happened between the customer of
General Motors and its Customer-Care Executive. Pls read on.....
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General
Motors:
'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame
you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have
a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but
the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole
family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the
store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and
since then my trips to the store have created a problem.....
You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back
from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car
starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter
how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when
I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?" The
Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an
Engineer to check it out anyway.
The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously
well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just
after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream
store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came
back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night,
they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The
car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that
this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to
continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this
end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type
of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy
vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of
the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the
store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the
flavor.
Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start
when it took less time. Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice
cream!!!! The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock".
It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the
other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the
man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems
seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking.
What really matters is your attitude and your perception.
| 
