Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11:

“On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic. All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit, immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that “All Business” look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta’s main office in Atlanta and simply read, “All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination.”

“No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately–no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.

“While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the
hijackings.

“We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander, New Foundland to have it checked out.

“We promised to give more information after landing in Gander. There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that’s nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM! …. that’s 11:00 AM EST.

“There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S. After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason.” Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground control in Gander told us to stay put.

“The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the air crafts. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.

“Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada. Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.

“Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.

“We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

Read More…

On my flight from Seoul, Korea, to Kuala Lumpur, I made a wonderful new friend, Mohan. He invited Nancy and me for the day with his daughter, Anu, to visit the Batu Caves. Afterwards he and his wife and other daughter treated us to a special Malaysian lunch and then took us to their home. What a blessing it was to meet this special family!

These are photos of our shopping adventures and our visit to the amazing Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

I am currently on the AMA Waterways newest ship, Ama Certo, taking a wonderful, relaxing sightseeing cruise down the Danube River. Here is our itinerary:

August 30 and 31– Budapest, Hungary
September 1 and 2 — Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria
September 3– Wachau Valley
September 4 — Linz and an excursion to Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
September 5 — Passau – Vilshofen, Germany
September 6 — Regensburg, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic
September 7 – 9–Prague, Czech Republic

We are learning a great deal about the history of this part of Europe and enjoying the sights, the food, the wine, and the shopping! I will be posting picture on the blog along with my journal when I return.

Had an absolutely WONDERFUL day yesterday! I was the opening keynote for the TMI and TACK International conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I spoke to over 200 participants from over 40 countries on “The Simple Truths of Service Inspired by Johnny the Bagger®” and had a most amazing response. I had my picture taken almost more than on my wedding day! I will post some of the pictures soon. What I keep learning over and over is that even though we don’t speak the same language or have the same culture, EVERYONE has a heart!

This is a photo after my presentation of Gus Gan and myself. Gus heads up the Learning & Development program for SGS in Shanghai, China.

TOOLS FOR DEALING WITH DIFFICULT CUSTOMERS (Internal or External)
Barbara A. Glanz, CSP, CPAE

1. Stay Reasonable. Breathe deeply. Remember the exercise, “The holes in the soles of my feet.” Take a deep breath and as you do so, think about breathing in goodness, joy, and peace. Then as you exhale, imagine pushing all the stress out from the “holes” in the soles of your feet. Repeat several times and you will find the stress dissolving. You can do this exercise at your desk, in your car, or with your family. It will help keep you from getting hooked into anger and defensiveness.

2. Listen and empathize. Put yourself in their shoes. Remember that everyone has a story, and you have no idea what has gone on in their lives before they came to you.

3. Remember their HUMAN need. Even if you can’t, with creative thinking, meet their business need, you can always meet their human need for dignity and understanding.

4. Offer Options. Perhaps you cannot meet their exact business need or request, but with creative thinking, you may be able to offer some options that are even better for the customer. Say, “I’m not able to do _________; however, here are three things that I CAN do.” Always focus on what you CAN do, not what you can’t do. Offering options gives the customer a choice and allows them to keep their dignity in the process.

5. Let people vent. Sometimes they simply need to let off steam to someone. Agree with them every chance you get, even if it is only a “yes,” or “uh-huh.” If you listen long enough without arguing, often they will run out of steam and end up apologizing to you or explaining they have had a bad day.

6. ASK QUESTIONS. This buys you time to keep calm and puts the ball in their court.

7. Use Selective Agreement. No matter how upset they are, find something in what they say that you can agree with. You may have to use this skill 6 or 7 times, depending upon how upset the customer is, before they calm down so you can get to the business at hand. Using it will help you to keep more objective and not take the attack personally.

8. Don’t take things personally. When a customer is upset, he or she is upset with the organization or the circumstances, not with you as an individual. Remember YOU ARE THE ORGANIZATION to them!

9. Above all, DON’T GET HOOKED! If you become argumentative or defensive, you will always lose. The way the customer sees it is the way they see it. Acknowledge how they see it and then find some ways you can compromise or come to some sort of mutual agreement.

BARBARA GLANZ BIOGRAPHY

For free articles you can use in your company newsletters and an archive of dozens of immediately applicable “Ideas of the Month,” go to www.barbaraglanz.com/articles. Barbara Glanz, CSP, CPAE, works with organizations that want to improve morale, retention, and service and with people who want to rediscover the joy in their work and in their lives. She is the author of The Simple Truths of Service Inspired By Johnny the Bagger; Building Customer Loyalty: The Simple Truths of Appreciation; Balancing Acts; Handle with CARE—Motivating and Retaining Employees; CARE Packages for the Workplace–Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work; CARE Packages for Your Customers; CARE Packages for the Home and What Can I Do? Ideas to Help Those Who Have Experienced Loss;. As an internationally known speaker, trainer, and business consultant who has a Master’s degree in Adult Education, Barbara lives and breathes her personal motto: “Spreading Contagious Enthusiasm™.” A member of the prestigious Speaker Hall of Fame, she has presented on all seven continents and in all 50 states since 1995. For more information, she can be reached directly at 941-312-9169; Fax 941-349-8209; email: bglanz@barbaraglanz.com; website: www.barbaraglanz.com.

Barbara Glanz, a class of ’65 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Kansas, is featured in a PROFILE titled “Speaker ‘spreading contagious enthusiasm™'” by Terry Rombeck in the July issue of “Kansas Alumni” magazine. Each edition of the magazine highlights four outstanding alumni of the university. Besides Barbara, this edition features the actor who does the voice of Goofy for Disney; Michael Bauer, the top restaurant critic in San Francisco; and the director of one of the top-rated children’s theatres in the country.

Question: How can I get my employees to give caring customer service??

Barbara answers: click here

For more questions and answers with Barbara, visit Barbara’s Video Q&A

We hope we will have a chance to make a difference in your workplace by helping you raise morale, improve retention, build customer and employee loyalty, boost productivity, and as a result, create a workplace of respect, caring, and joy. Call our office at (941) 312-9169 today to see how Barbara can help make a difference in YOUR company. Remember, you will never get employees to treat customers better than they are being treated themselves!

Last week I was one of the session speakers at the Society for Human Resource Management National convention in Atlanta. It is the largest gathering of HR professionals in the world, and I have been blessed to speak there since 1997. My session was titled, “CARE Packages for the Workplace — Dozens of Little Things You Can Do to Regenerate Spirit at Work,” based on my book of the same title. Although I had the most technical difficulties I have ever had in any presentation, the over 700 people in the room all chose to stay which was a wonderful tribute since in this environment, it is absolutely acceptable to leave a presentation that is not meeting your needs.

As a part of the convention, they always have a HUGE expo with over 670 companies that specialize in products and services for the HR community. I always have fun collecting all the giveaways for the grandchildren. One of my favorite stories that I always tell the Aflac folks is that each year they give away a little duck in a different costume each year. When you press its tail, it says, “Aflac, Aflac, AFLAKKKKKKKKKKKKK…..!” Over the years since Owen 6 and Simon 4 have been born, I have sent them each a different duck every year. When Simon was about 14 months old, guess what his very FIRST word was??? AFLAC! 😉

This year they had the Heisman Trophy at their booth, so I had my picture taken with it. It is fun to share with all my friends and clients.

TO learn more about Barbara’s work, go to www.barbaraglanz.com .

THE JOY OF SERENDIPITY!

This week I was honored to be the closing keynote speaker for the American Specialty Toy Retailers Association in Baltimore. As usual, I arrived the night before and checked into the hotel about 5:00 pm. I went to the convention center, checked out the room and equipment, and then began to think about dinner.

As many of you know who have heard me speak, one of the things I dislike the most about travel is eating all alone, and the usual alternative is so simply have room service. However, I really did want to experience the wonderful seafood of the area, so I called the concierge for advice. Since I was alone, she recommended a seafood restaurant that had a shuttle to pick me up and bring me back, so I made a 7:00 pm reservation.

When I went out to get into the shuttle, there were three other people there – Walter, Jennifer, and Martha. To be friendly, I asked them if they were with ASTRA (the convention where I was speaking). They were, so I told them I was going to be their keynote speaker the next day. They then asked if I were alone, and when I said, “Yes,” they graciously invited me to join them.
As we talked over dinner, one of them asked me where I lived and how long I had lived there. Then, of course, the question became where I had come from. When I said the Chicago area, two of them replied that they, too, had lived in the suburbs of Chicago. Amazingly, as we talked more, it turned out that Martha had lived IN OUR TOWN of Western Springs, ONE BLOCK away from where we had raised all of our children, and BOTH Martha and Walter had gone to Lyons Township High School, the school my children attended and where I had taught for several years before they were born. What a delightful, serendipitous experience – to have four random people “happen” to meet in a shuttle, share dinner, and find all these connections!
‘

The next morning I was doing a breakout session at 8:30 before my keynote. While I was setting up early in the morning, a lovely woman named Cynthia came and said she would be the person introducing me. I just happened to glance at her nametag and saw her home as SARASOTA, FLORIDA. I could not believe it! Out of several thousand people at this convention, the ONE person who had been asked to introduce me was from the same city as me! Even the contact person who had set that up did not realize we were from the same town. Cynthia’s store is just about two or three miles from where I live on the beach. Again, what an amazing coincidence……or was it????

I truly believe that wherever we may find ourselves in the world, there are always wonderful people and delightful serendipitous experiences if we just take time to connect and communicate. Isn’t life fun????

To learn more about Barbara’s work, go to www.barbaraglanz.com