Three Generations; Two Countries Come Together 

 As I venture deep into the heart of Texas, and Gilbert into the great unknown, Masae’s mother, Yoshiko and sister Shizue are in Hawaii from Tokyo venturing deep into the heart of Samantha, Yoshiko’s great grand daughter. Samantha is slow to go to anyone she doesn’t know well, but she just can’t resist the temptation of a banana; (even when it comers from me).

While on Oahu Yoshiko and Shizue got to go to Surf-n-Sea and meet founder and business person deluxe, Joe Green. Hey Joe, what a great new web site you have there.

14 Hours Later

Just 14 hours after arriving at the Vancouver BC Airport we have arrived in Houston. Next is to catch a flight to San Antonio.

If all goes well I will get to my San Antonio hotel by mid-night. That will give me a chance to update the forum, respond to e-mail and maybe even get a little sleep to re-energize for two Success Rallies tomorrow.

Today’s experience is a good example of how people tend to blame a whole company when things go wrong and the people working there fail to handle it well. Continental Airlines was getting a lot of bad publicity today, yet there was no real fault there. We should be thankful that they catch and fix mechanical problems on the ground, not in the air.

All we needed was more empathy from the flight attendants and all would have been much better. We also saw how forgiving people can be; as we landed the passengers all applauded. I haven’t heard that in a long time.

I Am Not Smiling Anymore

Nobody knows more than I do that STUFF HAPPENS; it’s a chapter in my book. That being said, my patience and understanding have run out and I am finding myself in a rant.

After sitting on this airplane for close to three hours without a word being said, I look out the window and see the guy in this photo taking bags off of the plane. I casually asked one of the flight attendants what he is doing, and he said, “Oh, he is taking off bags for people that we have accommodated on another flight.” You can imagine how my “mood” changed.

After giving him a little “lecture” on communication and “Aloha”. He just gave me a blank stare; he couldn’t care less. I headed out to the lobby to get “accommodated on another flight”.  Well, after setting off a security alarm and being accosted by another unfriendly agent, I was told that there are no guarantees, and if I want to change to another flight to “wait in that line over there”.

I never have been very good at “line waiting”, but I went to the back of the line anyway and stood there with several angry people for a half an hour and the line didn’t move an inch. So, I came back on the plane and began writing this post. The first friendly employee that I have seen all day came over and said, “I think you left your glasses case in your seat when you left.” She was actually smiling, so I dumped on her about my felings; sorry!

She explained that they have another mechanic coming out to help and that he should be here in an hour. She also said that there is a good chance that this plane will get me into Texas before those other accommodations might, and without the hassle of changing planes, gates and even losing my 1st chosen seat, that I had to fight for upon checking in.

She was so pleasant, that I calmed down immediately and got back to work. A few minutes ago she came back and told me that she has an agent checking to see if there is any better way to get me to San Antonio any faster.

As in selling, it’s all about people, how they act, and what they say.

Stay Tuned! 

 Keep Smiling!

It isn’t always easy to keep smiling when things are not going as they should, but you should.
My patience is being put to the test right now as I sit on a Continental jet in Vancouver when we should be in the air flying to Houston.

Just last night I was talking to a group of managers about the importance of using check lists, and I mentioned airline pilots as an example. Just before take off this morning our pilot saw something wrong on his check list and returned to the gate for the mechanics to check it out.

Having got up at 4:30 AM to catch this flight, it was a bit annoying to say the least.

We were given the opportunity to stay on the plane or get off. Almost everyone got off. I see it as an opportunity to get some work done completely uninterrupted.

Stay Tuned!

 C-O-L-D

A few other words that come to mind are, “dreary”, “nasty” and “miserable”.

I guess that “42 degrees and raining” is a bit worse to those of us used to Hawaii weather. When I stepped off of the plane last night without a jacket on, I got a fast and rude reminder of the phrase, “Lucky we live Hawaii”.

In a few short hours I will be in Vancouver, BC, and although I don’t anticipate it being much warmer, I will be in the warm company of Steen Skaaning and Team INspiration BC. They always warm my heart if not the temperature outside.

“Stars” Don’t Sell; People Sell

Today’s Honolulu Advertiser carried a story stating that Macy’s is “turning to star power this holiday season to fight disappointing sales and resistance to its takeover of local department stores.”

Having Stars like Donald Trump and Martha Stewart might bring some people into the stores, but unless their employees start talking to those people, they will just be there “Star Gazing”.

In Honolulu the new Nordstrom store will be presenting the biggest challenge that Macy’s has seen since gobbling up Liberty House in 2001. Shoppers had high hopes of something better, but that has not been the case. I repeatedly hear that they (Macy’s) have really made Liberty House look good. The residents of Hawaii would love to have its Liberty House back again.

Yep, Longs is in Trouble

My dentist told me that I should use a Sonicare brand electric toothbrush.

 I asked him where I should get it. He suggested that I get it at Longs or Costco. Well, Costco was too far away, so I headed over to Longs.
Well, after searching around a while I finally hunted down an employee and asked where I would find it. She gave me the aisle number and walked off. I found the aisle but could not find the Sonicare brand. I went searching for help again and found a “clerk” who looked along with me and finally said, “I guess that we don’t have it”. I asked him about the similar brands and he couldn’t tell me the difference, so I left empty handed.

Then I remembered that Walgreens was now open right across the street, so I headed over there. While I was disappointed not to see a greeter, I was able to easily find the section for tooth brushes, and low and behold there was the Sonicare in three models. Unfortunately they were under lock and key, so I went to a readily available cashier at the pharmacy window and asked for help. She got on the speaker and paged for a supervisor to offer customer assistance at the aisle number. By the time I got back to the area, there was a smiling young man asking me what he could do. He didn’t have the key, but called for someone that did and she was there in seconds with the key and all the information needed to buy the most expensive of the three models available. After re-locking the display case she said, “Unless there is something else that you need I can get that rung up for you at the pharmacy counter so you won’t need to wait in line.” That was music to my ears. She escorted me there. The woman behind the counter had a customer at the window. My “escort” asked her for her attention and said, “Pam, as soon as you finish there will you please ring this up for this gentleman?” She agreed with a smile, and my “assistant” thanked me and walked away. I wasn’t there more than a minute before she returned and said, “I see there is an open register up by the door, come with me and I will ring that up for you there.” I followed her to the register area where she went behind the counter, opened up a register, processed my order and thanked me. Wow! I will be back!!!

I FINALLY Got It, but…

But, it was a lot of work. I have been seeing the ads for the slick new Sony Cybershot camera for a while now. I have even been into Comp USA (Incomp USA) on three different occasions intending to buy it, all without success. My latest attempt was this past Monday. As usual I had to work hard as a customer to get someone to talk with me, and when she did her information was sketchy and to make it even worse, they did not have the flashy red color that I wanted in stock.

I left empty handed and went to Shirokiya at Ala Moana Shopping Center. As I approached the camera counter, there was “my camera” sitting in the showcase. All I needed now was somebody to sell it to me. The eager look on my face did nothing to interest the three “clerks” standing and chatting at a nearby counter without a customer.

I became more pro-active and approached one of them asking, “Do you know who works in the camera department?” He said, “I can help you, what do you want?” I said, “Follow me, I will show you”. He successfully got the camera out of the showcase, and I said, “Okay, I’ll take it”. I then asked if it uses the same size memory stick as my older Sony Cybershot, and he said, “It doesn’t come with a memory stick”. I said, “Oh no, then I won’t get it”, and he said, “Well you can buy one”. Yep, I sure did!

Before leaving I asked him a few more questions about a smaller model that my wife might like. He answered the questions, but made no effort to help me make a decision, so I left with just the one camera. The next day I went back and bought along with the memory stick. If you add it all up, I spent $675. Comp USA missed out on $675; Shirokiya got lucky.

Wake Up Call for Macy’s

I was invited to tour the new Ala Moana extension today. As you can see it is clearly still under construction.

The anchor tenant is Nordstrom, which is well known for their excellent customer service. Macy’s will no longer be the only game in town for a department store. The level of customer service observed most recently at Macy’s Ala Moana does not indicate that they have awaken to the upcoming competition. With their same store sales down 2.7%, as reported in National Jeweler, they had best wake up soon.

The new section featuring 30 new merchants in a two-level retail concourse along with Nordstrom has the town abuzz. Nordstrom will be 210,000 square feet on three levels including a full-service restaurant and cafes.

Click on the photo for a close up view and then your back button to return to the blog.

“Get Off This Plane!”

When I first read about the woman being denied access to a seat on a Southwest Airlines flight, I really wanted to see that outfit. The (male) flight attendant told her that she was dressed too inappropriately to board the flight.

Having now seen this photograph of her in that “skimpy” outfit, my thought was that Southwest had better not even think of trying to operate in Hawaii.

I’m all for employee dress codes and uniforms to be sure that all employees represent the firm in the way it wants, but when it comes to the customer, I think those rights end. I cannot help but think that this was the “personal opinion” of the flight attendant, and not the policy of the airline.

The truly shocking thing was the lack of an apology from Southwest. I have a few Southwest flights scheduled this month in Texas. I hope the service will be better than their judgment and diplomacy.

For a close up look at this outrageous outfit, click on the photo and then click on your back button to return to the blog.