I was headed to the airport yesterday morning. The trains to the airport leave every 15 minutes. I managed to pay for my ticket with a minute to go and moved forward to get into the train.
I looked at the employee on the platform and she beckoned to the train on the opposite side. I was just about the enter when I heard the “Doors Closing” sound. I had ample time to walk right in. All of a sudden, the ticket person inside the train said “Wait!”. So, I waited a couple of seconds assuming they were testing something.
The doors closed . And in a patronising tone, the lady on the platform said – “You are late. The doors are closed and they don’t open once they are closed. Please catch the next train in 15 minutes.”
I was aghast. I had ample time to walk right in. I trusted the ticket person on the other side and was let down. Instead of hearing an apology and perhaps feeling a bit of empathy, I was admonished for having been stupid enough to trust that the person inside had my best interests at heart, and for having been 10 seconds later than I should have.
The incident sparked a fair bit of thinking.
I wondered what the service gained by those extra 10 seconds. Perhaps they would argue that adding 10 seconds would set a precedent and that 10 seconds would become 20 seconds and then gradually a delayed train. Fair enough. I can see the efficiency argument.
But, that’s about the only justification that I saw. And I thought it was weak (sure, you could accuse me of bias). I was left with multiple questions instead.
At what cost do you pursue efficiency? What if I had missed my flight? What would I have taken away? What if I was an influential person who might have hurt their reputation in some way?
But perhaps what hurt me most was that I am a big fan of the Heathrow Express service. I am on it at least 2-3 times a month on average. It is the best way to get to the airport. I have always counted myself as a cheerleader of the service. But instead, I felt like a nameless, faceless person they couldn’t give a damn about.
Image by Nick Macneill
Logic might dictate that they shouldn’t care. The value of the service is speedy trains to the airport. I am not going to stop using it because someone treated me bad. In fact, it will only prompt a small change in my behaviour – next time I will know not to count on their employees. Maybe they don’t lose anything after all and maybe they are justified worshipping efficiency and treating their customers as non-human entities..
Maybe. My gut says they are wrong. I walked away with more questions than answers. And more importantly, I walked away with the feeling that the spark in the relationship was lost. How can that be good for a business?
A Learning a Day 
