When I was a kid, I found great enjoyment in hiding behind corners and waiting for unsuspecting family members absorbed in their thoughts to walk by so I could jump out and scare the you-know-what out of them. There was just something about watching my brother's fight or flight instincts kick in and hearing my mom's shrieks of terror that delighted me. Fortunately, I possessed just enough sense to refrain from pulling this stunt on my dad.
They will all be happy to know that there is a cosmic justice at work in this world... And this justice is meted out almost every month.
There I'll be, utterly absorbed in the work of improving my granite shop and wham-o, out of nowhere, and when I least expect it, comes the deadline for this article!
And of all months, this month should not have been a surprise as I had planned on writing part II of the article on standards for safe slab transportation, a subject requiring a greater degree of careful research, planning, and interviews than normal.
So instead of hoping you don't notice the change in subject matter or winging it, I must confess and apologize for not having started, much less completed the follow up article on this most important of subjects.
This is not to say that I have nothing to say! On the contrary, this most humbling of circumstances is a fantastic springboard into a discussion about how (and when) to deliver uncomfortable news to a customer (or editor for that matter)... like when the wrong edge detail has been put on their counters, the deadline can't be met, or that one of the slabs from their project was returned but not credited back to them.
What is the best policy for delivering awkward news to a customer?
Is immediately telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth the best course of action? Or does hoping mistakes aren't noticed and winging it have a place in a professional stone organization?
It has been my experience, some of it all too recent, that honesty is in fact the best policy.
Not three weeks ago, a customer changed her edge detail at the last minute. Of course, it wasn't until after the counter was completely finished that we realized that we'd made the mistake of fabricating the original edge. The sales department was immediately notified and the customer called to discuss options. She was understandably upset.
Even more recently, we realized a conflict on a job that was to be installed 4 days later. The decision was made that one of the jobs would have to be bumped out a day, and the unlucky customer was called so we could apologize and reschedule their install. Again, we had an upset customer on our hands.
In both cases, it worked out better than we could have expected. The wrong edge detail lady was so in love with the slab she'd originally selected, that she opted for the "wrong edge" and didn't even ask for a discount (No joke). The one-day-delay lady had enough time to re-schedule her plumber without delaying her project further.
I suspect that had we installed the counter, hoping the customer wouldn't notice the edge mistake, it would have been an impossible sell after the fact. And had we "winged it," waiting until the morning of the original install date to tell the other lady about the delay, it would have been too late for her to re-schedule the plumber, and she would have had nothing good to say to, or about us.
In both cases, the policy of owning up to our mistakes actually saved us in the end. I suspect that it won't be very long before I again have the chance to test the theory that honesty is in fact, the best policy.
If you'll excuse me, I have to go and agonize over whether or not to credit back the price of a slab we didn't use on a customer's project...
Aaron J. Crowley is the founder and president of FabricatorsFriend.com, the exclusive promoter of Stone Sleeve fabricator sleeves and Bullet Proof aprons.
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