Gate Grace

When I worked at Aflac, we had big department meetings or the like periodically and I think once a year we had something involving paid inspirational speakers. So we had this guy whose name I don't recall.

He had a brother named Ron who was dying of cancer and he asked us to all say "YAY RON" while he recorded it. He was our speaker the following year as well and told us Ron died about a month after he heard that recording.

So Ron's brother is talking to us about customer service and he tells a story about that, a personal anecdote to try to illustrate some points he was trying to make. 

Because he was a speaker, he traveled a LOT and he took advantage of frequent flyer programs and the like. So he had some chit or token called a "strip" I think and he could use it to upgrade to first class.

Unbeknownst to him, if the trip was over or under X miles but was within like a hundred miles of that cut off, the person at the gate had authority to make a judgement call. So he's been using ONE strip ALL year to do his upgrade and that's worked fine. 

So he gets to the gate and she's like "We're full and there's no room." And he's like "Well upgrade me to first class if you have room in first class." And gives her his strip.

And things go unexpectedly sideways when she says "It's two strips." And he didn't really think it would be a big deal. He's surprised and insists one strip should work, it has all year and then gets schooled and learns he's been getting what he termed gate grace ALL year.

So he's still like "Ok, no big." And pulls out his credit card to cover the $40 charge or whatever for the upgrade and it's declined. His credit card is maxed out.

And that's when he lost his shit because she CAN authorize it and she knows he's going to be sleeping in the airport if she doesn't because his credit card is maxed out and he can't afford a hotel room.

They did let him on the flight and the attendant was especially solicitous. If you are in customer service, there's a couple of takeaways there:

1. You should try to communicate with your customers if it's a judgement call and they can't actually count on getting that.

2. Don't pointlessly shaft people in a situation like that. It will come back to bite you because people rarely brag about you being nice to them, but on average complain to like twenty people if they feel burned.

But if you are in the Courts, that story has a different lesson.

Some people who behave badly are doing it intentionally and are full well aware they are getting something like "gate grace" on a routine basis with people who have the authority to say "Well, it's just barely over the line and I can cut you some slack and write it up as a lesser charge." or whatever.

They are sometimes jailhouse lawyer types in the sense of not actually being in that profession or business but having all the rules memorized and intentionally playing games to see how much they can get away with.

And if they lose their shit when you say "Not THIS time." and their big feels expressiveness gets them out of it AGAIN, you've just taught them that having a hissy fit works regardless of how in the wrong they are.

I'm NOT saying Ron's brother was in the wrong. This wasn't a Court case. This was a good faith effort and he didn't know.

But in Court, all the people pulling stunts will CLAIM they didn't know. 

Before you go caving to their hissy fit demands for gate grace AGAIN, at least try to check their story about NOT KNOWING.