Inflexibility - Is that a word?

Last night I encountered a situation that caused me to stop and think about things in a "big picture" kind of way. And the more I thought about it, the more irritated I became. And since this is where I decided to vent, here it is.

I sent two of my employees on a road trip to Chicago. We are in the middle of transitioning over to a new software package to operate our business. Good times indeed. Anyone who has ever done this, knows exactly what kind of good times we are experiencing. Anyhow, I am getting off topic.

I sent these two people to Chicago. On their trip, they experienced flight delays, including an hour tour of the Chicago airport, thanks to some extra taxi time in their plane. I booked the entire trip thru the approved company travel representatives. I used my credit card information but supplied all of their personal information. Itineraries were sent out, indicating everything was in order and ready for their arrivals. They left on a Sunday. Just in time to be ready for a long week of learning.

Around 9pm or so, I started getting semi-frantic phone calls. The car rental was not paid for. I am at home, in a drugged out frame of mind (extra morphine), watching SNL, drinking Baileys spiked hot chocolate. I am informed that I need to fax a copy of my license and credit card, as well as a statement authorizing my employee to rent this car. Maybe I am behind on things, but I do not have a fax machine. A printer, scanner and alot of computers, but no fax. Not even a landline. All cellular in my 'casa.' So, my brain goes into overdrive. How do I fix this? I am starting to get annoyed, because I am sure I had all of this taken care of before they left. I paid extra for the service to avoid this kind of thing. I used to travel alot when I started out, and I have been in situations like this. The last thing I wanted was for my own people to experience this. But, in true drugged up fashion, I come up with a super complex, yet simple solution.

The rental car company faxes the "form" to my work #. I log in thru my VPN connection, and email that fax to my home address. Then I print it off at home, fill it out, scan it and email it back to work. Then, back into my work PC, and fax it back to the car rental company. Freaking McGruber all the way. The only thing missing was a gum wrapper.

All of this worked out. The rental company released the car, and I happily settled in to watch the rest of my SNL show. Thank god for DVR. But there is more. Around 10pm or so, another phone call. The same crap at the hotel. What is wrong with travel agencies these days? No wonder no one uses them anymore. I think I am going back to self booking. Anyhow, they wanted to fax me a form, and wanted pretty much the same information. So, I attempt to follow the same process.

This time however, the fax that the hotel sends over is so light that when I scan and send it back, they cannot see anything but what I had wrote on the form. My team calls me back to inform me that the girl behind the counter needs me to fill out "the form" not just write on a blank piece of paper. Because that is what I do, on a late Sunday evening, when my employees are in a situation. I pull out a blank piece of paper and write random crap on it. Really!!? I tell them to put the lady on the phone. She is the "manager" so there is no one I can speak to above her. She needs the form filled out. She cannot understand that I did fill the form out. Match it up!! All the lines correspond with the flippin form!! But that is not good enough. She "needs the form, sir." I had this feeling that I would be making a trip to Kinko's for a late night faxing session.

The hotel sent another, darker copy of their precious form. I filled it out and faxed it back, and apparently everything is good at this point. But it started me thinking. Why was this form so important, that they had to hold up my tired, late night employees from getting their rooms? They had my credit card. They had held the reservations under that card, for those two people. The rooms are for the entire week. Why, if they needed additional information, did they just not request it, and then allow me to address it all this morning? Why? Because the "night manager" was never trained to deal with issues. She was never trained to work with situations as they occur, in a logical and sensible manner. No, instead she was trained to follow a process that did not compensate for any deviations. And then, as the only person there, she was forced to deal with this issue in an inflexible manner.

I notice alot of businesses fail in this area. The "common sense" approach has been eliminated. For whatever reasons, be it to save cost, allow for less training, provide stability, whatever, they have moved away from doing the right thing in situations. Now, if the blanks are not filled in completely, if the documents are not all in order, if the answers are not all there, then the transactions cannot be completed. And that leaves people stranded. It leaves people wanting. It leaves people angry and upset and less likely to ever use that business or service again. And no matter what the rule or procedures were for, I am quite certain it was not to lose business. It was not to piss off customers. But that is exactly what is happening.

I decided right then and there, that the common sense approach to business is the way to go. There is a need for rules and processes. Too many people try to take advantage of businesses. They try to get the most they can, for free, when they can. But not all situations are like that. This one was not. This was two people in need of their room. They wanted nothing free. They wanted to sleep. I want common sense to make a comeback. The "night manager" had to see that the reservation was for the week. She had my credit card information in front of her. She could have easily put my employees in their rooms, and addressed all of the paperwork the next morning. But she lacked common sense. She was not able to think outside her policies and procedures. And that is makes no sense.