I was in my local pharmacy the other day and dropped off two prescriptions. I needed to be at my kids’ school in thirty minutes. I asked how long it would take to get the prescriptions filled. Fifteen minutes, I was told. I decided to wait. Fifteen minutes passed, and my name wasn’t called. At twenty minutes, I went up and asked how much longer. “Just a couple of minutes.” To cut to the chase, I ended up leaving without my prescriptions, mad as hell and vowing to take my prescription to the other local pharmacy next time to see if they had any greater concern for my time.
Not a big deal, but a nice reminder that most of the time, its not how long or how much that is important, but rather setting expectations that you either meet or exceed. If I could find a good picture to go with the “underpromise and overdeliver” mantra, I’d have it framed and hanging in my office.
Sounds very familiar. I had the exact same thing happen, except with a technical aspect that rubbed salt into the wound. I called up to use their "automated" prescription refill service. The system took all the information, and "told" me that the prescription would be ready. It wasn't, and the pharmacist told me that it was because of the type of insurance I had, which, for reasons I can't go into here, was a total crock. Bottom line: technology can be used to make promises against which people can fail to deliver.
Posted by: Peter Darling | Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 08:42 AM