Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

I think it is out of paper, I said.

The American Airlines employee looked confused.

I was trying to check a bag. The new system requires you to tag your own bag, but the machine seemed to be out of the "sticker paper." A receipt told me to talk to a gate agent.

But the gate agent didn't seem to want to help. He told me to go back and try again. So I did. Same result. He rolled his eyes once or twice. He was convinced that I didn't want to use the self-service system, even though I tried to explain that I already had.

Frustrated with me, he passed me off to a colleague. She figured out the problem. The machine was out of paper.  So she helped me tag my bag.

So I was shaking my head in disbelief. It was going to be one of those days of air travel.

Inside the plane, one of the flight attendants restored my faith in service. 

She joked. She served. She didn't just hand out cookies. She joked that she baked them herself! I heard at least three people remark what a joy she was. 

My first interaction was with a subtraction employee. I'm sure he gets paid, but at the end of the day - it takes away from the overall experience of American Airline customers.

The second was with an addition employee. She added to the experience wherever she went in the plane. 

Every company has those that add and those that subtract. The really good ones have the right ratio.