The frequent viewers of my You Tube Site and readers of this blog have heard me whine about bad service. This is particularly true in cases of air travel and hotel incompetence. In this particular case, I saw an example of good service. So good, in fact, that it deserves the ISO-HELP.com Seal of Approval, for the Boss who Did His Job.

The Location

The Drury Inn and Suites, Mt. Vernon Illinois. From Chicago, head west until you start to see nothing but cornfields. It’ll be on the right.

The Boss who Did His Job

Ron Recht, the Assistant General Manager. Here is is doing his job, namely interacting with the guests.

The Story

I was traveling through the middle of the country with a riding friend to attend Ragbrai as I have for the last 14 consecutive years. The reservation was made through Priceline, and when I arrived at the desk we were checked in no problem. The clerk at the desk was smart, greeted us warmly, and handled the transaction promptly.

Bikes for Ragbrai. The Boss That Did His Job helped us stow them.

We were carrying bikes. I asked if there was a place we could stow the bikes, rather than leave them in the parking lot. Without hesitation, the clerk said “wait a minute, I will call the manager. Maybe we can put them in one of the empty meeting rooms.

Lesson One: Empower your customer-facing personnel to look for ways to make the customer happy. Have them call the manager if there is any confusion on this.

Ron Appears

Ron appeared a few moments later. He said “We have this meeting room, but we just put down new carpet. Are your bikes dirty?

We explained that the bikes had been on the road, but for the most part they were tidy.

“Give me about 10 minutes” he said, after inspecting them. “These bikes are unusually clean.”

Ron Reappears

He showed up in about 10 minutes, led us to one of the meeting rooms which had some spare sheets spread out on the floor.

“We just got new carpet.” he said. “You are the second group of guys that wanted to store bikes.”

“That’s because it is Ragbrai” we said. “There are 15,000 bikers headed through here.

Lesson #2. The boss that did his job was accommodating when he could be. At the same time, he protected the hotel property.

Later that night

At cocktail hour, the boss that did his job was visible to staff and customers helping the customers have a positive experience

There was cocktail hour, which included free snacks and drinks for those old enough. This was a chaotic situation, there were kids, and little old ladies. We helped ourselves to food. Ron was there to be in control of the event. He was supervising the bartenders. There was schmoozing with the customers to make things were going well. The assistant general manager was clearly visible helping the staff clear the tables.

Lesson #3, even though apparently annoying, the boss that did his job was actively supervising check-in and paying attention to guests.

Even later that night

Asked us how dinner was, and wished us a good evening. I used the public rest room near the restaurant, and found it pristine.

Clean Rest Room under the supervision of the boss that did his job

Lesson #4: McCaig’s Law: The way to see how a place is managed is by inspecting the lowliest rest room in the place. Nothing happens in isolation.

The Following Morning

We approached the desk worker, working the first shift, and asked for our bikes. Surprisingly, there was no hassle whatsoever. The desk worker knew what the situation was, opened the door and in two minutes we were off.

Lesson #5: The Boss that Did His Job had communicated that there were special conditions that needed attention, The desk clerk got the message. Communications processes with the other shift were working.

The Bottom Line

Our guy Ron was the exact opposite of a Mediocrevisor. He spent the bulk of his time either directly interacting with customers, or supervising his employees. The lower level employees were empowered to solve problems. The communication systems were strong enough so that the day shift employees knew that something unusual was going on.

Lesson #6 The lowliest common area was tidy.

The Boss Who Did His Job gets the Seal of Approval

For this effort in Customer Service, the ISO-HELP.Com Seal Approval is awarded to Ron Recht. May he receive all the benefits pertaining thereto.