Paradise Part 5

By 10:15, RB had completed 3 letters and 7 emails.  He was in the groove but did not want to call the man back, yet.  What was his name again?  It seemed most days there was one deal or another he did not want to do.  Something about it conjured up fear in his heart. 

The phone rang and RB looked at the caller ID.  It was Jessica, one of the CEO’s assistants.  RB removed the headset from a hook sticking out of the cubicle wall and put it on.  He then lifted the receiver and smiled as he said, “Good morning, Jessica.  How are you today?”
Jessica was all business.  “RB, I need you to take this call.  This is Jane Griffin from Habitat for Humanity.  She’s at a gate and her upgrade isn’t available.”

“Do you have her PNR?”  (Note: Airline talk for Passenger Name Record.  Most nonairline people call it a confirmation number.)

“No, but she’s on the 11:25 to LA.”

“Ok, no problem.  You want me to get her up front regardless?”

“Yes, please.  She’s being pretty nice about it but she is someone Jerry has worked with in the past and I think she expects it.  Don’t bump someone else to get her up there so if you can’t, just do something nice.  She will understand.”

Knowing there wasn’t much time and he would need to coordinate with the gate agent so he didn’t mess up things for them, RB tried to cut the conversation short. “Ok, I got it.”

“Great, here she comes.” Jessica said as she temporarily made it a three way call.  “Jane? I have RB on the line with us.  He’s going to take care of you.”

RB said, “Hello, Ms. Griffin.”

Jane Griffin said, “Thank you, Jessica.  I appreciate it.  Tell Jerry you guys need to be a part of one of our international builds next year.” 

“I will, buh bye.”

RB repeated, “Hello, Ms. Griffin.  This is Robert Baxter but, please, call me RB.  While you were waiting, I pulled up your reservation and should be able to get this done with no problems but I need to contact the gate agent so my actions do mess up things they want do or plan to do.  Is this your cell phone you're are calling from?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Ok, I see it is the same number in your reservation.  Please give me about 10 or 15 minutes to get this going.  I will call you back shortly, unless you want to wait on the line.”

“No, you do your thing.”

RB placed the handset on the phone and he located the gate where Ms. Griffin’s flight was.  Once that was done, he needed to find the phone number for that gate.  With the airport having about 150 gates, it can be a challenge to locate the correct number since the directory was archaic.  As he dialed the number for the gate, Katie knocked on the side of the opening to RB’s cubicle.  RB said, “Can you wait a minute?  I’m in the middle of something.”

“No problem.” Was the reply as Katie sat in the chair in RB’s office.

It took approximately 15 minutes for everything to be finalized.  The gate agent was one of the better ones RB thought.  Once he explained who he was and that he was calling on behalf of the CEO, she was more than willing to get everything done for Ms. Griffin.  In reality, she would have been upgraded but, for some reason, did not want to go through normal channels to get it all done. 

With that task done, swung around in his chair to face Katie.  He asked, “What’s up?”

“I know I feel like I’m always bothering you about something.”

“No you’re not.  You are still new and it takes a while to feel comfortable in this job.  Whatcha got?”

Katie explained the deal and RB was certain she already knew what she was supposed to do.  He asked if she knew what the standard goodwill gesture was and she did.  RB asked, “So what’s the problem?”

“I just don’t feel it is enough for the circumstances.”

RB replied, “I hadn’t been here very long when I had a deal.  This lady was sitting in the last row of the plane.  She noted the smell from the lavs behind her and hoped it would get better. She pulled open the seat pocket and put her planner in it.  During the flight she went to get her planner but had problems getting it out.  She pulled the seat pocket all the way out with one hand and put her other hand in in order to pull the planner out.  She said she felt something in the seat pocket.  She pulled her hand out and her had was covered in poop.  Someone put a turd in the seat pocket.”

Shock registered on Katie’s face, “Ewww, that’s disgusting! What did you do?”

“Well, first I just couldn’t find the words to do a letter so I knew I had to call her.”

“Ok.”

“I knew I had to do something to make this right and I remembered something my first manager here told me when I had a deal where doing what you normally are supposed to do isn’t enough.  She said if you know the letter you send will cause a rebuttal, don’t send that letter.”  RB paused a moment for to let the thought sink it.  Then he continued, “We have various tools to use.  Sometimes, a voucher just isn’t enough.  Maybe a phone call, a sincere apology and a nice gift basket are what you need to do.”

Katie looked at the floor, thinking.  Then she said, “Good points. Thanks.  As long as you keep giving me good advice I’m gonna keep coming back.”

“What if I start giving you bad advice?”

“I guess I won’t know right away but if you start giving me bad advice, I know what kinda car you drive, buddy boy.”  Katie held a serious look on her face for a moment.  Then smiled and said, “I can’t be evil with you.  Thanks for your help.”