By Angela Maiers

What If You Knew You Mattered?

My day began with excitement and anticipation as I eagerly boarded the plane for what promises to be a awesome week working with teachers and leaders in the beautiful state of Hawaii.

The morning started out great and went downhill quickly after two delays and a plane de- boarding. Still in fairly good spirits, I was hopeful that I would still make the next flight and be ready for the days of learning ahead.

Three hours later, and no closer to my destination, I was growing more frustrated and went directly to the customer service counter in hopes of help and understanding. It is there my day really took a turn for the worse. As I stood in line, watching customer after customer being handled with indifference, disrespect, and at times even inhumanity, my patience wore thin.

As my turn approached, I couldn’t help but ask the question I knew was on so many of the customers minds: Do we matter to you?

The agent, caught a bit off guard, ignored the question and proceeded to move me through the line. (quickly I might add). A customer in line next to me, repeated the question to the agent again saying this: “Ma’am, it is obvious that we don’t matter, but could you at least fake it and act like we do even for a second.?”

Her lack of response spoke volumes. The stranded passanger next to me summed up in this simple and eloquent statement:

“All people want is to know that you acknowledge they are having difficulty, No one in this line expects you to solve the airlines problem, they just want to know their problem matters to you and that you will do what you can to help. Not just because it is your job, but because it is the right things to do as a person.”

We were all given our “$10.00” meal vouchers and thanked for flying with friendly skies. The day went on as normal. And that’s the problem. This is “normal”, “standard and accepted practice” in far too many businesses,organizations, and even schools. Doing business as if the “customer” does not matter not only hurts the customer; it hurts the industry. Showing up to our jobs and to our lives as if how we act and behave does not impact the people we meet is not ok. We can do better than this, and it really is not that hard, a smile, a kind voice, a face of compassion, a simple I’m sorry goes a long way.

For the past several weeks, I have been making the case that two words can change the world. I know today of a fifty people who would have loved to hear and know this to be true.

How about you?