The one nice thing about computer crashes and breaks is that they give us a chance to catch up and breathe a little.
Computer crashes have been around as long as computers. We have no problem finding articles and advice on what could be wrong and how to fix it. When we have a persistent crash, it reminds us how much we depend on these machines, doesn’t it?
It’s that April holiday I don’t know what to do with. So here is my Administrative Professionals Day cartoon and a tribute to my computer.
Don’t get me wrong. Administrative professionals have very important jobs in many companies. But to me, technology has blurred who is an administrative professional and who isn’t. I tend to agree with an article at Slate saying the “holiday” is doing more harm than good. The title is quite blunt and says the holiday needs to die.
The world of business has some interesting language. One day, I heard about one corporation going after another. This led to an idea for a hostile takeover cartoon.
As I am updating this, Elon Musk is in the news because he wants to buy out Twitter. It’s the big business news of early 2022. The term, hostile takeover, had dominated the news for the last couple of weeks. Who knows what news item inspired me in 2010. Was it when Kraft Foods decided to go after Cadbury? Considering how I love chocolate, that could have piqued my interest!
If life hands us lemons, we can get good at making lemonade. And if you start a lemonade stand, provide good customer service, right? That said, I have seen great customer service representatives take a trying situation and make the best of it. That can be tough when circumstances out of their control bring angry customers into their lives.
Are you tired of making the best of a situation? I suppose we can try what Stephen Lyons suggested in the Chicago Tribune and suck on some misery. But beware of taking satire as gospel truth! One thing he makes clear in his commentary is if we think things are bad now, we could always find ways to make things worse. Conversely, the opposite must be true: we can always find ways to improve our situation.
If you are in customer service, you’ve had to face a lot of lemons lately. It has been nearly impossible to give customers exactly what they want when the whole world has been turned upside down. Yet customer service is turning lemons into lemonade.
When I drew this cartoon, I didn’t realize how sales and customer service do this daily. Instead, I wondered how even a humble lemonade stand owner could benefit from customer service. I didn’t know about the sour events customer service representatives face daily. Yet, this view can be compelling.
One of my friends works in the hospital billing department. She has fielded calls from people who have been affected by the financial hardships of COVID-19. For example, two couples in a family have lost their jobs. Or maybe someone just wanted to talk about the disease. She’s done a lot of listening. She’s shed tears with customers who are going through tough times.
About a year ago, our plant was going through some capital improvements. We hit some snags when installing and testing the new equipment, which caused jobs to be late. Our customer service department had a very rough time because they had to field the calls of frustrated customers who were used to excellent service. I was impressed by those in the department who took the time to listen and be helpful even when they may have felt there was little they could do.
In the end, if we’re in business, we are all in customer service. Everyone wants to know they are being listened to and that the other person cares about their plight. Consider listening to the customer and becoming an expert at turning lemons into lemonade.
