What a Restaurant Check Teaches Us About Entrepreneurship

“Hi, Mr. Boyd? This is Joe, the restaurant manager. The credit card you used to pay for your carryout food wouldn’t go through. Your bill wasn’t paid.”

“Ummm- that’s not right. My son just picked up the food, and he paid cash.”

Joe flipped through some papers.

“No, that’s not right. I have the credit card you used here- it number ends in 5718.”

I shifted in my chair: “I don’t have a credit card that ends in that number- and I paid cash.”

Now, I’m annoyed- for several reasons:

#1- What ever happened to “the customer always right”? Why does he assume that I’m lying?.

#2- Why would he let a customer leave with food before the credit card went through?

#3- My wife worked in the restaurant business for years, and I teach people about accounting- including examples of employee theft.

#4- What happened here was that someone at the restaurant pocketed my $45, and is using a bogus credit card number to cover their tracks. Hasn’t this guy seen this happen before?

Joe: “Well, OK- I’ll check on that card and call you back if I have a problem.”

Whatever, bro.

Now, I should point out that this is a restaurant I go to all the time- I like it there. But I don’t know when I’ll be back. I can stand at the front door of that restaurant, throw a rock, and hit two other places that I like just as well.

The Lesson

Before you call a customer with bad news, do some homework. Joe should have checked the legitimacy of the credit card number. He didn’t, and instead blamed the customer.

Big mistake.

The Smoke Alarm

Last Thursday, I had a medical procedure- not a big deal. So, as is typically the case, I’m lying with an IV in my arm, waiting to be moved into the operating room. Two maintenance guys walk in.

“Do you mind if we check you smoke alarm?”

Now, you should know that my Doctor come highly recommended. In fact, another doctor referred him to me- and he did a great job.

But he doesn’t own the building.

I say sure, ask them if they’re going to use their equipment to perform by procedure, we all laugh. They check the smoke alarm and leave.

The doctor- moving in and out of surgery- probably never knew they were there.

The Lesson

People from outside your business impact your customers. That includes landlords, delivery people, and others. Understand how these people can impact your customers- and take action to maintain a level of professionalism.

No maintenance people allowed in the area during office hours- check the smoke alarms at night. I have a sense of humor- but what about someone else who’s stressed about going into surgery?

Could have been bad.

The Parking Garage

It’s that last step before the end of a long trip: leaving the airport parking garage.

Recently, a parking garage exit that normally takes 5 minutes lasted nearly an hour. It was frustrating not only to me, but also to dozens of drivers who were held up at the end of their trips.

And the problem was completely avoidable.

Consider how this situation was mishandled, and what it teaches us about growing a business as an entrepreneur.

Communicate the Problem

I was at Lambert Field in St. Louis, my hometown, leaving terminal 1. As I slowed down for the payment booth, I noticed 4 cars in front of me- unusual for late on a weeknight, I thought.

A great business book I highly recommend. Click below:

The terminal 1 exit on the top level has an automated, credit card only booth on the far left, and one ticket booth was being operated by staff. I tried the automated booth, which didn’t have a line- no luck.

After getting back in line, I noticed that the car at the second booth didn’t move for over 5 minutes. The person working the booth would occasionally lean out and speak to the person in the car.

The Lesson

If you have a problem that is impacting customers, tell them. People are willing to have some patience (and still do business), if you alert them immediately that something isn’t working, and that you’re trying to resolve the problem.

At the airport, and sign should have been posted- immediately- at the credit card machine explaining that it wasn’t working. The people staffing the ticket booth should have also posted a sign explaining that there was a problem. Why not walk to each car in line to explain that there’s a hold up?

If you care about customers, this step makes common sense. 

Identify the Problem

As it turns out, the parking lot’s computer system has crashed, and cashier’s could process payments. The computer system affected the credit card machine.

Was this the first time that a computer crash happened?

Get free sample chapters from my book: Not Another Personal Finance Book.

It sure seemed like it, because no one seemed to be taking any action. I would have expected a parking lot official to show up to work on the problem. Instead, we sat there for 20 minutes- no one left the ticket booth, no one new showed up, and no one offered an explanation of the problem.

The Lesson

Smart businesses of all types operate using a written procedures manual, which documents every routine task. Now, one of those tasks has to be: what do we do when a computer crashes? A tech issue may affect your website, the POS system in your retail store, on your online payment processing system.

What are you going to do when that happens? Who- specifically- will take action? How will you communicate the problem to customer, apologize, and start a process to solve the problem?

Write it down.

Creating and updating a procedures manual will help you get back to business faster, and minimize any loss of customer revenue.

Who Takes Responsibility?

Disgusted, I called the St. Louis Airport Police, who promptly showed up. Now, I may not have been the first person to call, but two officers arrived on the scene. They explained that the computer system had crashed.

Can you imagine if your customers had to call the police to understand your business problem?

“OK, great”, the guy in front of me said. “Just open the gate- we’ve been here for 45 minutes.”

“Not my call”, said the policeman.

Which I totally get.

It wasn’t the policeman’s problem.

I should also point out that a worker showed up for his shift, was told that the computer system was down- and stood for 10 minutes staring at all of us waiting in our cars.

No attempt to explain the problem, no apology, and no cell phone call TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.

I used all caps, because I was fed up by this point.

Resolution

So guess what?

A parking lot manager finally showed up, had the gates opened, and let everyone out for free.

A nice gesture, but the problem was solved 45 minutes later than needed.

With proper training, a procedures manual, and some common sense, the problem could have been solved in 10 minutes.

Worker calls manager, manager tells worker to apologize and open gate- letting people out for free until the computer problem is fixed.

After all, it’s not the customer’s fault.

Effort

What I’m describing here as the right thing to do takes time and effort. If you know someone who is struggling in business, ask yourself: are they making the effort required to keep customers informed and happy?

If not, entrepreneurship is not for them. Food for thought- good luck!

This post is for educational purposes only.

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl

 

Image: Bullseye, Jeff Turner CC by 2.0