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Date:         Tue, 29 Sep 1992 15:59:28 -0500
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From:         Loretta Merlo <Loretta_Merlo@QMCUMC.MAIL.CORNELL.EDU>
Subject:      Thank-you

    Thanks to all of you who answered my "apology warrented?" note with your
supportive imput. I think that it was really useful to discuss my real life
issue, although I would have preferred it if it hadn't happened at all.
My AD is working  hard at being friendly to me these last few days,  but I
remain unmoved. My direct supervisor has attempted to contact the patron as
promised, and I've shown her some of your collective imput, so I'm sure she
won't screw it up (I'm sure she doesn't want to be discussed on the BB too).
   I wanted to point out that at least 2 people made very good points which I
can certainly learn from. One (C.V.Divens?) point was to have a policy of
calling immediately to the next higher level person whenever there is a patron
"on the way to the office". As a matter of fact, that is my policy, and I
usually encourage my staff to tell me anything even a little confrontational
or unusual that happens at the Desk, so that I'm not taken by surprise if the
patron complains later. Unfortunately, I didn't heed my own advice on this
particular occassion. Usually, I amuse my higher-ups with all the strange and
annoying antics of the difficult patrons who come to the desk, and maybe .0001%
 of them ever end up in the "front office". In fact, I've had more than one
patron return to apologize the next day. It just goes to show that the one you
least expect will always be the one who does complain.
    I also think that Ann Williams had a good point which was very simple, and
which I missed. That was that I never really told the patron that my staff
member was a trainee, and that may (or may not) have de-fused her somewhat. I
tend not to want to make it too obvious that someone is new, as I have a
pretty new staff at the moment, and patrons will walk past 2 people not doing
anything particularly urgent, and interrupt me (madly typing away at my PC
with a 'to-do' list of 50+ items) for help. That was a huge irony of this
situation-- most patrons only want to do business with me. Anyway, in my fury
of the moment, I didn't think of making that point clear. So I thank you for
pointing that out.
   I guess I am most disappointed that my AD didn't ask me what happened
before assuming I would apologize. I'm partly to blame for not following my
golden rule of telling everybody everything, as described above, but still, I
think I'm owed the benefit of a doubt here and there. I have no trouble with
the fact that she apologized for the patron's "bad experience in the Library"-
I've come to accept swallowing such apologies as part of the job, and have
made a few myself as a supervisor. I agree that it's much better to kill the
problem on a lower level, when at all reasonable, than to let it end up in the
Dean's office.
  Anyway, thank you all again for your comments. It's certainly true that
those who don't work the front lines have no idea what it's like, and those
who have worked the front lines quickly forget what it's like. It reminds me
of a great quote in a book I have called "Delivering Knock Your Socks Off
Service":
  "There are no "bad" customers; some are just harder to please than others"--
Someone who never waited on a customer in his or her life.
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