Last night I went to the movies to see The Town. So i get to the cinema, walk in the ticket line and ask for a ticket. The lady is texting and asks me to hold on a minute and then once she finishes turns to me. Now, it's 9:04 and my movie starts at 9:05 and here she is telling me to wait a minute. But hey I wait and then she turns to me and I ask for the ticket. She tells me that the movie is not working and that it won't be showing tonight. I told her that I saw it online and that it said it was still showing...so why wasn't it updated online? She tells me well yah we meant to but forgot. Sorry.
Ok so the guys in line behind me also want to see the movie so we ask can you move the reel to another cinema, we will wait. She turns and says "no". Well all of us say, "can't you at least ask them over the radio since you aren't the one in charge of that?" She calls over the radio and the guy goes yah, sorry I don't feel like doing it. So she tells us, "Sorry, no go tonight."
The thing that bugs me is that both of the employees didn't care at all and to them this is "just a job". They were being lazy and didn't care about the business or trying to offer us a ticket for another movie. All they cared about was when their shifts ended and how soon they would be home.
Well the effects of this girl go far beyond me not getting a ticket. Just think of this:
- First lets say 400 people came in that day to see the movie. That means that at the cost of $10 a ticket that would be $4000 dollars that could be earned. Because some employee does not care about his or her job, they don't fix the theater and none of those tickets get sold. That means that the movie theater just lost money.
- Now when people like myself deal with employees who don't give a damn we have the reaction of speaking negatively about them. They say negative messages spread 6x faster than positive ones. So that means I am going to tell at least six people about my experience with this bad employee and probably steer people away from this business. Now the theater is experiencing a loss of customers.
- Lastly these employees don't care about their work and will not perform adequately. That means that they will be costing more money then they are worth and can possibly damage the company's image. Brand and image are essential to all businesses. If they start to hurt this it can mean negative culture changes and consistently decreasing performance. A company that stands for nothing, will soon cease to stand.
The point is remember to care about your customers and employees. Invest the time in your employees so that they are passionate about their jobs. People know when employees actually care and in today's service craving society, that is what people want. And when you are giving people what they want, they will continue to come back.
Moral of the story- Employees that care= people who care about your business= more profit and customers.
