Send This Jerk The Bedbug Letter, Or, Sincerity Is Credibility
We do a lot of talking about credibility around here. Sometimes we expound on it, but we always strive to DEMONSTRATE it. When we screw up, and we do, we apologize publicly and do what we can to make it right. I know you all have stories about that, and if you want to put them in on the comments section, it’s always welcome.
But today I’m talking about a counterexample.
There once was a luxury train line. A businessman who’d booked passage on a business trip, weary from a long day, went to his sleeping car and pulled back the sheets, ready for a good night’s sleep, until he discovered that the sheets were literally crawling with bedbugs.
He reached his destination–probably exhausted now–and sent a letter detailing his fury to the president of the railroad.
He got a VERY nice apology letter in the mail. The president himself wrote, apologizing abjectly, saying the car in question had been taken out of service and fumigated thoroughly. Such things had never happened before! Personnel were discipllined! New procedures were instituted! Heads were ACTIVELY rolling as they SPOKE!
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Until you catch the rest of the story. The president’s secretary had accidentally included the businessman’s original complaint letter in the same envelope. Written across the top in the president’s handwriting?
Send this jerk the bedbug letter.
What do you think happened to that company’s credibility? These days, credibility is money, folks. I got that one out of the book by the same name by John Bear, Ph.D, but how many companies are sending “bedbug letters” this very minute?
Is your blog sending bedbug letters?
