Of course, Netflix has allowed users to share accounts for years, knowing they would lose hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. Restaurants playfully compensate meals for dissatisfied customers, even if their complaints are unfounded. Target also engages in harmless rule violations and abides by the one-year warranty on its Cat & Jack children`s clothing brand, even if the returned shirt or shorts clearly made a full business trip to art class or the jungle gym. As a manager, I have two main concerns. First, I want my business to thrive forever – probably a “never-ending game.” At Location Labs, we work closely with the major U.S. wireless service providers: a few very important partners. Circumventing their rules, even once, could destroy the trust and partnership we have literally built for years. The long-term costs of a questionable decision obviously outweigh any apparent immediate value (individually or company-wide). We must absolutely not allow short-term situations to overshadow the future continuation of the partnership. Trust is not negotiable. So what can we do to stop people from bending the rules? The digital age has brought new examples of questionable customer behavior. Newspapers like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal often turn a blind eye when readers share their subscription credentials with friends and family. The reason? These non-paying readers see ads – and could one day become paid readers themselves.
For example, as many bartenders have argued, if you`re brewing several glasses a minute but you`re not compliant, if your lemons are left uncovered, there`s essentially no choice but to ignore the lemon rule or lose customers waiting for you to seal and unseal your lemon container. The question that remains, of course, is whether a bartender`s decision to leave his lemon slices uncovered really poses a major health risk. In one study, researchers took 76 lemons from 21 restaurants collected over 43 visits and found that 70 percent of them produced microbial growth. Remarkably, they collected samples as soon as the drink was served with the lemon slice. Although the study concluded that customers should realize that their lemon slices may contain unwanted microbes, countless studies suggest that the risk to customers remains low. Given the low risk, what should a busy bartender do? In this case, a relatively low health risk must be posed against the risk of non-compliance (e.g., the establishment can afford to pay the price for leaving its lemons uncovered) and consider what its guests prefer (e.g., waiting longer for a drink or risking slices of uncovered citrus fruits). The customer service representative immediately understood the seriousness of the problem. His manager, not so much. She reprimanded her employee for allowing me to get insurance so late, but reluctantly allowed him to continue to help me. I never want my team members to feel like we have a culture where they are supposed to magically deal with thorny issues without disrupting management. This “head in the sand” approach leads to harmful results and, worse, is terrible for morale. I want every employee at Location Labs to know that we support them and don`t expect them to deal with particularly difficult situations in isolation.
Without this internal trust of the team, it is impossible to control the organizational “shift” sometimes necessary and the value of the company is seriously affected. This commitment to bending the rules while adhering to safety laws has helped Zingerman generate more than $65 million in annual revenue, Weinzweig said. First, we need to stop demonizing people for minor transgressions. As an article by Stephen Reicher and John Drury in the British Medical Journal shows, the narrative of blaming the media and certain politicians is both problematic and dangerous. Compliance with Covid rules is surprisingly high – despite the difficulties people face. Very few of us fully abide by all the rules. In fact, one of the strangest phenomena of this pandemic has been the tendency of people to complain that the park or shops are crowded and condemn it as irresponsible behavior, while admitting to being there. “I was there, but it clearly had nothing to do with me.” Three days after buying my laptop, I accidentally dropped it on the kitchen floor and broke the screen. I kicked myself for not buying insurance when I got the chance and tried my luck by going back to the store to ask if I could still buy it. “The gap between what people do and what we think people are doing is telling and underscores what`s called the availability effect.
That is, we judge the frequency of events by the ease with which they come to mind – and violations are both more memorable and worthy of interest than acts of loyalty. “Circumventing the rules may seem counterproductive for financial growth. Allowing customers to return their clothes beyond their due date or purchase insurance after dropping their new laptop could be considered irresponsible. But you can`t look at these situations without context. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Zingerman`s delicatessen has long integrated this vision into its business model. Co-founder Ari Weinzweig actively encourages his more than 700 employees to break company rules in the name of customer service. The only caveat: never compromise the health or safety of customers or the community. In times of coronavirus, some rules are non-negotiable. Enforcing social distancing or washing your hands can be a matter of illness or health. But in retail, fortunately, few rules carry as much weight.