Running on Empty

So I was reading Arizona Coffee today and there was a posting about a coffee shop and its service. People have posted their comments on their experiences at the establishment the last twenty years. Someone posted about the justification for what appeared to be bad customer service and I started thinking about it.

The case in point is where the owner was asking people who had been hanging out during a busy time and had finished their drinks to leave and make room for new customers. It seems reasonable to some, but to others it seemed very rude. The business owner at the time felt justified because he wanted to make the optimum amount of money that evening, and even now he would probably defend his actions.

The point I notice is that months or years later people are remembering this, and they are posting it on a very popular blog for coffee in Arizona. People who are looking for a place to go can search the shop and often find SOME information on just about any shop locally. After reading the discussion on this shop, I would find it highly unlikely that someone would go there after reading the views of these people.

Imagine how much money this business owner made that night vs the long term, second hand repercussions, that will come. He may have made a couple hundred in a night, but could have lost thousands over the course of years because of it. It makes me think about customer service or really any issue where you deal with people. You never know what can happen from the decisions that you make or who you talk to.

This seems to be of utmost importance as a business owner. I guess it fits with the whole “For want of a nail the war was lost.