Paradise Part 7

By 1:30 PM, RB decided it was time to call Mr. What’s-his-name.  He listened to the voice mail again and found he did leave his name, Scott Patterson, but no flight information or what the issue was.  RB wished he had something to go on.  He tried searching for a ticket using the phone number but found nothing. 

Fortunately, he did find a possible frequent flyer.  There was only one person in the frequent flyer system that lived in the same area code as this Scott Patterson.  This Scott Patterson did recently travel.  It could be him.  RB pulled the past date record from the database to see what he could find.

While waiting for the information to come up on his computer, RB received an email from the department GM.  It was a congratulatory email expressing her thanks for a job well done.  Someone RB had previously assisted wrote in to give their appreciation for RB’s handling of their situation.  While reading it, another email arrived from the company CEO.  He opened this email and found it was a copy of the same email.  The customer sent copies to both the CEO and the department GM.  The CEO copied RB in on his reply to the customer.  It simply said, “Thanks.  RB does a fine job for Blue Skies.  Thanks for recognizing him.  DP”

RB was someone who needed positive feedback.  That was terribly lacking in a job where you only read about problems from unhappy people.  Though he endured much stress when he started this job, he was regularly recognized for his work by the company executives.  Each time he was, RB felt a tremendous high.  This recognition sometimes charged him all day. 

RB drove home that day grateful he completed the required number of letters/emails/phone calls.  It turned out Scott Patterson wasn’t such a jerk once RB got to speak with him.  RB found that to be true in many cases.  RB firmly believed, more than anything, people want to know they have been heard.  Therefore, he made a point to being attentive, compassionate and empathetic.  Besides recognition from the executives, another benefit of working with the executives was he was no longer confined to writing letters in the standard formats of the office.  Therefore, he could tailor his correspondence to reflect his personality.  He felt that come through to his customers. 

So he finished another ten and a half hour day.  RB mindlessly listened to the news while waiting his turn to move a few feet at a time on the crowded highway.  He was happy to be driving home and away from the bad place that wasn’t as bad as it had been.  Still, tomorrow was another day.