“Don’t place your mistakes on your head, their weight may crush you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as a platform to view your horizons.”  ~ Author unknown

One of the conditions of being human, is imperfection – like it or not!  I don’t know about you, but I try my best from day to day to change this well known fact of life. Our company is diligent in it’s work, we try all ways to stick to our promises, we strive for excellence and reach for the highest standards.

Our shipping policy is to process all orders on a timely basis. But, everyonce in a while, our best laid plans go awry. Late one afternoon a few weeks ago, I received a book order throught the internet from a fine art gallery on the East Coast. We reached our goal of shipping the very next day. About seven days later, I received a call from the art gallery owner that he had yet to receive the order. We discussed the fact that the order was sent standard shipping, as requested, and the weekend may have delayed it’s delivery. We jointly decided to give it a few more days with the agreement that he call me if he did not receive it.

Three or four days later, I heard again from the customer that the order still had not arrived at his doorstep. I told him “you have waited long enough, I will send a second book via expedited shipping.”  To shorten the story, the first shipment arrived long after the second one arrived. I don’t know what happened. Each time I tracked the order, the only message available was the date the shipment was picked up by the carrier. Once a shipment leaves our fulfillment company’s doors, it is out of our hands.

But – I beat myself up, feeling we had let our customer down, even though we shipped the order within 18 hours of having received it. I knew there was nothing I could do about the lost order other than try to satisfy the customer the very best I could by sending another shipment – PRONTO!

As much as we strive for perfection, other influences, people and situations often get in the way. The only thing we have true control over is ourselves. For those in the customer service side of things, if we have done everything we possibly can to satisfy our customers, sometimes we have to accept the fact that we are all human beings in an imperfect world, and sometimes things just run amuck!

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