I was on a flight to Brisbane, returning from running a Training Seminar for a Corporate Client in Sydney, when a Customer in front of me had an issue with his mobile phone.
The flight attendant asked him to turn it off before take off then came back and told the Customer the phone was still on and needed to be turned off.
The customer protested and they both started to become a little heated.
The Flight Attendant was telling the man the phone had to be turned off or he could be fined $5000.
The man was saying it was turned off.
The Flight Attendant was saying "I know how to use an iPhone, I have one...
Hold the button and wipe the red thing - it isn't off yet".
Eventually the Customer got it and turned off the phone...
but he wasn't a happy camper and the Flight Attendant continued to stomp around the cabin for the rest of the flight due to the "altercation".
Here's my spin on it though...
One - the Customer was wrong.
His phone wasn't off - it was on standby and it did need to be off for the flight.
Two - The Flight Attendant may have had a long, bad day as he really didn't need to "go mad" at the Customer or upset himself like he did.
So what happened? Sure, I've seen many crazy passengers on my travels - this situation is different though.
See, what I believe happened was this...
The Passenger was missing information.
Both the Passenger and the Flight Attendant fell into blind spots in their experience.
The Customer really thought he'd turned the phone off when in actuality he'd only put the phone on Standby.
Every time the Flight Attendant told him to turn it off he really thought he was and then could not understand why he was being told to do what he already "knew" he had.
Flight Attendant gets angrier because the Customer keeps "ignoring" him and "purposefully" doing the "wrong" thing.
This happens all the time in business, work situations, relationships and families.
Questions to think on and Actions to take: Think back to the last time this happened with someone in your life.
What was the situation? Were you the "Flight Attendant" or the "Customer"? Have you been both? How could the situation have gone differently? Well, in this case two ways - one, the Customer could have known how to operate his iPhone better in the first place...
but he didn't know he was doing it anything but perfectly so that's a long shot.
In this case AND in nearly every situation similar to this it's the person who wants something done that needs to be flex-able.
There is something missing in the other person's experience or knowledge - they have a "blind spot" or missing piece.
It's our job (as the person who "gets" this) to find out what it is and help fill it in.
It's the ONLY way to actually get what we want.
Otherwise we end up in some argument and usually never getting our desired outcome.
We need to ask ourselves some questions: 1.
Where is the missing piece? 2.
What is it that I know and this person doesn't? 3.
How can I fill in this blind spot for them gracefully? Questions to think on and Actions to take: Go back to the situation you recollected before...
Ask yourself...
Where is the missing piece? What is it that you know and the other person didn't? or What is it they knew and you didn't? How could that missing piece have been filled in gracefully? What to do in the future - look for these times and situations.
They will surely happen again.
Now that you are aware you have a different way to handle it.
Look for the missing elements of the experience.
One of you has more info than the other.
Here's a suggestion - anytime someone is not doing as you want them to or you are being asked to do something you already are doing and you know there's a misunderstanding remember this article and what you read.
You could take control of the situation from either side and change both your days.
Full Cups every day and Green Lights at every turn Duane