A GREAT LESSON

Yesterday, while visiting Washington DC, my computer crashed. My son, Gabriel, and I walked into an apple store for service without having an appointment.

I approached the host and explained to him the situation… he looked at me and said “Sir, there is nothing that we can do, you do not have an appointment…” I replied to him in a nice and soft manner “do me a favor, I am flying back to Madrid tomorrow, can you find a way to take care of it?” while putting my hand on his shoulder.

To my surprise, he flipped my hand and he said, “stay away from me!” I backed up and with an even stronger tone of voice, I asked him to call the manager. I knew he or she would be able to do something.

A few minutes later the manager approached us already with an attitude and said to us “I will send a technician to look into your problem, but I don’t think he will be able to do anything today.”

Then a technician arrived, clearly with an attitude. He did not even look into my face and talking to the air, he asked what was the problem.

Finally to make things worse, while I was looking for a cable to buy a salesperson put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me to the side with out saying excuse me.  As if he was trying to make a point. 
It seemed like every employee at the store had a problem with us.

I said to Gabriel, "I want you understand what is going on. This is a mistake that we all make, a problem that we all have."

We walked in with a great disposition and tried to find a solution for our problem but immediately the host and manager said to us there is nothing they can do about it.

They already decided there was no solution; they were not willing to find one.

Because I am a stubborn individual and an enemy of the phrase “there is nothing we can do about it,” I pressed for a solution.

The coworkers were not happy about it, and all had a terrible attitude towards me. In their eyes I was the bad guy. I was the guy that walked into their territory and pushed my way in.

This is a sin that we are all guilty of. At home, at work, at school we all have ganged up against somebody that we don’t agree with. Even if the person is right… and that is wrong!

While working with Omar, the technician, we were able to establish a good rapport. When he was finished repairing the computer I invited him to stop by Máte, one of our restaurants, to have a drink on us.

He was surprised and said  “you are the owner of Mate… so you are also the owner of Chicha…” I said yes.

Omar, the technician said pointing at the host, the host with the attitude problem, “you know, he works for you, he is one of your Dj's…” I turned around and said, pointing my finger at him… “that piece of .… works for me?” The host turned around surprised without knowing how to react.

In life and in business, you should always be your best because you never know whom you are talking to.

It is important to treat everyone you encounter with the same respect that you would like to be treated. People don’t always look the way you would imagine them to look, so don’t judge people based on their outward appearance or you could miss out on amazing opportunities.

At the end of our visit to the apple store, the computer was repaired, Omar gave me his card so I could call him directly if I have any issues, Brian the Dj was still puzzled, not knowing how to react; he knew he screwed up.  The rest of the workers were hiding behind the customers, so they would not be recognized.

The best part of this visit was that Gabriel, my son, had learned a few valuable lessons at the age of 14:

• There is always something that you can do.
• If you treat everyone the same you would avoid missing out on opportunities.
• Do not pre-judge people.
  

"Never lose sight of the fact that the most important yardstick of your success will be how you treat other people - your family, friends, and coworkers, and even strangers you meet along the way" - Barbara Bush

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