Leaving Las Vegas

I just left Las Vegas and left my hotel room 1 hour and 30 minutes before my flight. I went outside the hotel to the taxi stand. There was no doorman so I went to the taxi stand myself and called for a cab. Since I didn't have any cash, I asked if he accepted credit cards.

The driver was a little disappointed and said, "No."

I waited a couple of minutes for another cab to show up and asked the same question.

"Sorry, there is only one cab company in the area that accepts credit cards," came the response.

So, I looked for a doorman to help me with finding the right cab company, but there were none to be found.

I decided to go to the back of the hotel where I knew there was another taxi stand.

I would have just gotten cash from the ATM on the way to the back taxi stand, but I didn't have a debit card with me.

I asked the doorman at the back to call for me a cab that accepted credit cards. He did so right away and hoped that I would only have to wait about 10 minutes. I waited with him for about 20 minutes for the cab to come... and had a great conversation with him.... what a nice guy.

Finally, when I had less than an hour left for my flight, he got a sedan that accepted credit cards... but I had to pay 2 1/2 times the fare.

When I arrived at the airport, I had 42 minutes left before my flight left. Upon trying to check in, I was informed that the cut off was 45 minutes. The counter attendant said, "Well, we can get you on a flight at 11am but you'll have to pay $100 for the change fee plus the difference in fare."

"Oh, boy," I said. "Well, I need to get home, so do what you can."

She then paused for a moment and said, "Well, let me not charge you the $100 now and you run to see if you can get on the flight anyway. You may still have to pay the fee, but if you hurry, you might be okay. I'll get you back on standby on your scheduled flight."

So, I ran. I ran a long way, but not so fast, because I am not that fast.

I arrived at the gate with 20 minutes to spare and asked the man at the gate if he could still get me on the flight and no problem. I was just in time.

So, what is the business moral to this story?

I think there are two morals.

The first is from the perspective of the customer. As a customer that was late because I wasn't prepared with cash and didn't leave myself enough time, I didn't have a right to cause others to stress on my behalf. I couldn't get mad at the doorman (tipped him what little cash I had). I couldn't get mad at the lady at the ticket counter, because it wasn't her fault that I was late. I couldn't take out my stress on other people. Because I didn't ask them to be stressed, they wanted to take care of me... and did.

The second moral of the story is for business. I, as a customer, tend to get impatient. It is not always easy for me to not let my stress show through. Because everyone along the way took my concern seriously, they actually helped reduce my stress and make my experience a little better.

So, my thanks goes out to doorman Mike at THEHotel at Mandalay Bay and to the lady at the ticket counter at Alaska Airlines.

Corey Smith also maintains a blog about web development and search engine optimization and is the editor in chief for OfficeProductNews.net.