Don’t Let Me See That

Whilst I was shopping for TVs the other day I saw something that at first was mildly amusing but then got me thinking.

I was in … let’s call the store ‘Hardly Normal’ .. when there was a bit of a commotion near the checkout. Two members of staff had got into a shouting match. It wasn’t clear what the fuss was about – I think one guy had interrupted another when he was with some customers. They were still shouting at each other when I left.

It did make an interesting sideshow, and the small crowd that formed near them appeared to agree.

On reflection though, I really didn’t want to see it.

If your company is dysfunctional, don’t let me see it. If your order processing and back office systems are crap, don’t let me see it. If your accounts department finds it hard to deal with your service department .. you get the idea. We may have to contend with annoying co-workers, crappy systems and inflexible processes but I don’t really care how hard you’re paddling under the water: please make it look serene on the surface (and then fix your other issues of course!).

On a related note I once saw a genuinely interesting (and scary) workplace incident in Thailand, when two kitchen workers decide to fight it out. One of them grabbed a knife from the sink. Luckily she (it was two women) was stopped before it got too out of hand.

Not sure why, but the restaurant burst out into spontaneous applause. Now that’s entertainment!