Tuesday, October 31, 2006

The thing to remember when you're dealing with the public.

Is that people aren't necessarily stupid just because they don't know as much about your business as you do. They could be a rocket scientist and not know Tuesday's lunch specials or that you need a credit card to confirm a hotel reservation.

It's important to keep this in mind.

Of course, if you've spent a lot of time dealing with the public, you'll realize that many people are, in fact, stupid.

A lot of people ask for directions that are incapable of following directions.

Tell them to make three rights and a left and they're already lost. They ask for directions hoping you'll tell them the place they're looking for is right across the street or a half-a-mile ahead on the right. Now, I can't follow directions, myself--not even a little bit. But I don't ask.

Of course, a big chunk of the population can't give directions, either. But that's a whole other issue.

Misplaced Confidence

I hate confident people: people who fully expect to get the room they want at the price they want to pay no matter how late they wait to make the reservation--or whether they make a reservation or not. There's an arrogance about them that I just can't tolerate; it's a pleasure to tell those sort of people that they're out of luck.

Of course, some people make a greater distinction between confidence and arrogance than I do. That's a distinction that's never been all that clear to me.