Two weeks ago I was singing the praises of an Air Canada employee for her great customer service. This week I have to thank yet another Air Canada lady for getting me out of a bind I created. That's right I made a mistake and it was a costly one. The long and the short of it is that I read 16:45 departure as 6:45 and showed up at the airport at 4:30 or 16:30 for you military types. You guessed it I missed the flight with my wife and family ready to kill me.
I was a wreck when the lady told me it was the worst time of the year to miss a flight and worse yet to miss it for six people. She searched and searched and couldn't even find one seat available for days if not weeks. She was sure we would have to split up when we finally did get out. We walked down to the competitors airline and they had seats but the price was $3700.00 for the six of us one way, boy did I feel the pain at that time.
I remained calm and simply asked Shirley the supervisor to do whatever she could to help and I took full responsibility for MY mistake. She said there were 20 people on standby and could not imagine getting us out any time soon. Well with work booked for the next day I felt like I was getting whacked from two directions. It was at this time that a thought occurred to me. That is, this must be how homeowners feel when they discover that expensive repair that just can't wait to be be repaired, soon after they move into their new home. I could imagine how the spouse would be pointing a finger at the other saying I knew we should have had an inspection. I definitely can empathize with them. These people lay almost everything on the line to get that perfect home in their price range and then they get nailed with a huge cost that they simply cannot afford.
As an inspector I try my best to bring these major or pricey issues to light before the deal is done. As Realtors you need to do your best as well to keep the buyers and sellers for that matter safe from the unexpected. No-one can anticipate all the problems that crop up but many are preventable and its our JOB to be the hands and feet for the client at this critical juncture. So keep up the ethics and remember that our clients are no different then we are. They often work much harder then we do to earn just enough to have that meager home so let's help them in any way we can, just as Shirley of Air Canada did for my family.
I don't know how, but Shirley got us on a flight in the morning (together) and I only had to pay about $600.00 for my mistake, thank God for small mercies and thanks to Shirley for her humanity and willingness to work with us to help us. The entire ordeal has left me looking for the lessons in my every day activities. Instead of blaming and pouting I have decided to try to find the positive and learn from it.
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