domingo, 28 de mayo de 2017

EMBARRASSED?



The president of the United States, my Commander in Chief regardless of his party of affiliation and political persuasion deserves deference and respect; he is not our father as Chris Rock once suggested Obama was; and it's fair game to criticize him. I don't have any problems with people criticizing our current president and I even call him El Loco as I have used nick names for pretty much every politician. Only time will tell whether this presidency brings any good to America or whether we chose the wrong character for the top job in the land. 

I was an ardent critic of president Obama, but I'm not ashamed of him; he was elected by the people and there is no reason for being embarrassed; the same is valid for Mr Trump; I don't give a rat's behind if the First Lady clawed his arm when he tried to hold her; I couldn't care less if they don't get along well. Like I don't care if our president's ego makes him push another dignitary to be in the spotlight of a photo op. I don't feel ashamed to have a president that many in the world do not like and I don't take lessons from anyone. This is the guy we chose and thank God we can yank him in 2020 if he doesn't deliver; I'm proud that we have that choice and when I hear some fellow Americans whining about how embarrassed they feel in front of the rest of the world I ask myself: why the hell should I be embarrassed ? Who can lecture us as to how to conduct our business? 
The Germans? Those who gassed millions of Jews in the caricature claim of a superior race?
The French? Those who murdered hundreds of thousands of Algerians with their stubborn colonial ambitions?
The Spaniards? Those who were at the very door of a communist dictatorship and found another dictatorship as the only way out?
The Italians? Those who made a mockery of themselves trying to colonize Libya, Ethiopia and Eritrea?; those who haven't been able to make a government last for decades and have been shoved FOUR consecutive prime ministers without the shadow of an election ?

"Americans are children", many claim. Well we may be; but we have the most powerful nation on earth the left notwithstanding. We don't need lessons from fascists, communists and political invertebrates in general; we just need to listen to our people, spend our money wisely and fix whatever may have gone wrong during the last few decades; and God knows many things have gone wrong.

We are a nation that welcomes talent and hard work from all over the world. We must continue on that path making sure the demographic balance is not upset and that we put our interests above all else. 

domingo, 7 de mayo de 2017

ODYSSEY OR VACATION? II





Related imageImage result for pictures of luggage
Friday April 28th; a hot afternoon in Miami; MÍA, as we know Wilcox Field (Miami's International Airport), one of the busiest in the country, shows its usual Friday afternoon rush. Terminal D, American Airline chunk of the u shaped structure in its international arrival area; the door opens continuously to let passengers in; occasionally the PA system lets us hear Mayor Carlos Giménes welcome all visitors in a short, insipid message in English; that's OK; most visitors have no idea of what Miami DADE County is nor what the mayor looks like. After standing stoically with the last name of my customers on a sign for over an hour and a half I finally see two long elderly faces approach me and try in their best Itanglish to apologize for their delay; they had had to fill a baggage loss report. Air Berlin had somehow left their two suitcases in Germany's capital. I made it a point to verify they had their report number and all necessary documents before we left the building. We quickly reached the parking lot; of course they could move fast; after all, they had no luggage.

Driving them to the Best Western Atlantic in Miami Beach took me about 17 minutes during which time I went through my entire repertoire of reassuring and soothing words in Italian to counter the barrage of negative facts the poor customers detailed to me: Air Berlin's ground handler in Miami; which means the company that takes care of all services for their passengers and negotiations on a day to day basis with the logistics of servicing an aircraft after a transatlantic flight and ready it up to fly back home punctually had explained to them the following:
"Your suitcases will most likely arrive tomorrow; due to the time of arrival we won't have enough time to clear customs and send them to the Port of Miami before 16:00 hrs ET (deadline to allow any passenger or luggage in) and make sure they get on board; therefore, we will send them to St Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, on an American Airline flight and the AA staff there will hold them until May 2nd. That's the best we can do". So my poor elderly couple was supposed to enjoy their vacation as follows: spend one night in Miami Beach; embark the next day (April 29th at 13:30 ET) on a cruise (Carnival Glory) only with their two back packs; spend their first night aboard the cruise, enjoy the beauty of Carnival's private island in the Bahamas; sail for an entire day on May 1st and wait until May 2nd when, hopefully if nobody made a mistake, someone from the crew would go to St Thomas's airport and fetch their suitcases; FOUR days after they had landed in Miami.

The next day at 13:00 ET sharp I drove by the Best Western Atlantic Miami Beach to take them to the Port of Miami; they told me they had followed my advise and used the Miami Beach Trolley to know a little of the northern part of my beautiful city; they were not happy; something was bothering them; after 38 years you can always tell. Knowing what bothered them I asked them point blank if they had heard from the AB ground handler; and there they went again; they were scared that nobody could help them aboard the ship; they spoke two words of English and their anxiety was evident. Finally they shot the request I knew was brewing inside them since we had first met: could I explain the situation to the Carnival staff so that they could be certain everyone was in the same page?; course I answered. I used all of the 14 minutes needed to get to the Port of Miami reassuring them that while a baggage loss did not happen everyday both the cruise line and the airline were used to handle their situation. We finally got there; and after writing a detailed account in English of the facts and what needed to be done so that they could instruct the concierge on the ship I immediately asked security if I could accompany my elderly clients a few feet further to speak to the cruise staff; they called someone and the minute I saw who was supposed to help I knew it wouldn't happen; this Hispanic lady had TROUBLE written across her face:
"They lost the bags and we have to pick them in St Thomas?; I doubt it; that's unheard of" the customers could not understand English but the dismissiveness and lack of interest shown by this employee was so blatant that they quickly turned their hopeless faces to me and BOTH grabbed my hand like small children. I felt sick; how can you betray your fears, your incompetence and your lack of skills in front of a passenger?.
"May I speak to someone who works for Carnival?" I asked, my fuse running short, "I work for Carnival sir" the lady countered.
"No; you get a check twice a month from Carnival, I need someone who does work for Carnival; someone with the will and the urge to assist my elderly customers; because they didn't lose their bags as you wrongly put it; some inept prick misplaced their luggage in Berlin; someone that evidently gets a check from Air Berlin but does not work for Air Berlin"!!!. My irritation was so obvious that the security staff quickly intervened and asked for a supervisor. 

A young Hispanic lady with a smile in her face approached me and carefully listened to what I had to say; she didn't even blink; it was at that point evident that Volcano Alburquerque was about to erupt. She took a step towards me and looked the passengers in the eye. She spoke to me in English but used her eye contact and her warm demeanor to help me repair the damage her colleague had caused. She wrote a brief note on a piece of paper and ALWAYS looking at my customers she told me what they needed to do the minute they boarded the ship. Fortunately the lava never reached the crater. This sweet young girl had helped me do the trick.

When the clients entered the terminal she held my hand for a second and gave me the friendliest thank you I have ever got. Thank god someone had come to work that morning.

By 14:00 ET I had the names of all involved including the ground handler. Late in the afternoon May 2nd I got a called from an unknown number; reception was poor and all of a sudden I realized it was someone from the cruise; I feared the worst until I heard my customer thanking me and promising he would make sure his tour operator knew how great we were. "Mi hai lasciato un bel ricordo; ti ringraziamo di cuore..." those words meant the world to me.

I would like to share some thoughts regarding this unfortunate incident:
1- For the passengers' convenience, but most of all for security purposes there has to be  system that detects how many pieces of luggage are checked in for each flight and match that number with the ones actually inside the luggage container; if that is done (and I'm sure it would take an IT young kid two minutes to desing such software) not only will the airlines give a better service and reduce operational costs but most importantly we will be sure that no luggage goes unaccounted for. After all, if there can be missing luggage there could also be extra luggage containing a bomb couldn't it?
2- The timing was tight, but if instead of letting this couple's baggage follow the normal course the staff in Berlin had marked it so that the handler in MIA could have identified it and swiftly fast tracked it through the customs inspection my elderly customers may have had their suitcases at the original point of departure instead of wearing the same clothes for three days. Let's bear in mind that had this been a three nighter the clients would have had to attend the Captain's dinner with the same smelly attire.
3- I have had the enormous privilege of attending several seminars and courses by Cornell University; supposedly the Mecca of academics regarding the hospitality industry. I have also been privileged to give lectures at the Institute of Tourism in Treviso, Italy. Both as student and as instructor the theme was NEVER use the word no with a customer; use the positive even if your objective is to deny or negate something. The customer can in no instance feel that you are contradicting him/her or doubting his/her word; you are simply broadening the spectrum, adding more variables to the same equation; finding an angle that could make him/her more comfortable. What that lady who gets a check from Carnival twice a month did was a flagrant boycott to customer service; the fact that she did not know the procedure to deal with baggage loss is not only serious but out right unacceptable; what the hell is she doing there?; how can Carnival allow this inept employee take care of its passengers?

The truth is that corporations in America and the rest of the world see human beings as numbers; they can be treated with the same coldness and aloofness that we treat screws and bolts; every minute we spend enlightening a client and providing information is seen as a waste of time and money. A long line of customers checking in is perceived by arrogant corporate America as an assembly line. And why not? Perhaps I'm wrong; perhaps my emotion when I receive a thank you or a warm and grateful handshake is a vestige of my slavery background; maybe I'm an Uncle Tom. Maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe the world will never be a better place; maybe our future as customers is to be treated like trash.

Still, while there's air in my lungs and my heart beats I will do everything in my power to make my customers happy, I will continue to get emotional when they acknowledge my efforts to accommodate them and help them make the best of their stay. It will always be my pride to know that beyond all hurdles my customers are aware that every time they visit my Miami there will be this insignificant individual who will fight the windmills if necessary to make sure they get their money's worth of pleasant time. There will be this person that transcends the usual customer/purveyor dynamics and for the duration of their stay is family. No amount of "modern" savage capitalism will change that. 

lunes, 1 de mayo de 2017

ODYSSEY OR VACATION?





                                                                                 
Grim: Soldier Joshua Bernard is tended to by fellow U.S. Marines after being hit by a rocket propelled grenade during a firefight against the Taliban in the village of Dahaneh in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.

During the last few days I have tried to raise awareness among my FB friends as to the deplorable state of services in our great nation; the scarcity of choices we have as consumers and the arrogance of corporate America; which, compounded with negligent politicians are parts of a lethal recipe.

As a fervent advocate of capitalism I'm convinced that this system does not only consist of a bunch of privileged individuals making a pile of money; but also of the inalienable rights of the people, the respect for human dignity and last but not least, our freedom to CHOSE, to decide what brand of shoes to wear, what make of car to drive, what destination to pick for our next vacations. If companies continue to disappear; if their founders sell them to banks or financial institutions, and these entities appoint presidents, general managers or CEOs that are nothing but yuppies with allegiance only to their bank accounts and a shameful lack of sensibility towards the consumer capitalism is mortally wounded. If America's proverbial and exemplary entrepreneurship drifts into mere greed and imposes the dictatorship of those who serve upon those who are supposed to be served capitalism is mortally wounded.

The infamous incident that involved United Airlines and one of its passengers has brought our attention to poor procedures; irrational methods and quasi Communist rules that we all accepted as normal. What is more; what I would call the sodomized customer syndrome is so persistent among us that even after viewing a video where the passenger is forcibly removed from the aircraft with a bleeding face a segment of the public opinion dwelled on the integrity of the customers; and the real objectives behind his stubborn refusal to be deplaned; the usual dirty trick a defense lawyer uses when his or her client is charged with rape; the defendant's attorney digs deeply into the victim's life trying to find as much filth as possible. I have even heard people I love and respect claim that albeit unfortunate, the incident is not such a big deal and that Mr Munoz, United CEO, should not be criticized for, at first, siding with his staff at O'Hare's airport only to conveniently shift his position to a more realistic approach when the pressure of the public reached a critical point. Some even say a successful career cannot be tarnished by one mistake. I have news for those friends: a brave American soldier makes one single mistakes and drives too close to an IED (improvised explosive device) he loses a limb or two and his life is ruined forever; he then comes back to the country he fought for only to find himself being pingponged from one bureaucrat to another in that torture chamber we call VA. For that brave soldier who risked his life and most likely ruined it for us there won't be a second chance; and he or she makes a fraction of Mr Munoz's millionaire salary; why should we give the arrogant CEO what life denies to our brave wounded soldiers?

It now seems that United will have a new person at he helm as of next year; yet, this article is not an attempt to assassinate someone's character, but to instill in all of us the sense of freedom and certainty that capitalism used to create in the citizenry. The sacrosanct vehicle of exchange is money; you pay for an object or a service and it becomes yours; no law or regulation should be above that criterion; the minute we allow other elements to enter the equation and challenge our ownership capitalism is mortally wounded. And in this struggle both parties are conspicuously absent. The Democrats suffocate us with thousands of regulations, Republicans oppose those regulations and probably impose some of their own; but neither party seems keen in making corporate America efficient, accountable and law abiding; or, to put it better: common sense abiding. It is time for us as consumers to fight for our rights and the true value of our hard earned money. 

In the second part of this article I will detail to my FB friends the type of nightmare two customers of mine lived after paying thousands of euros for cruising in Carnival's Glory. TO BE CONTINUED...