And behold the bag returns

Well, it's going to be on its way shortly, but the bag that has once was lost has been found and surely the owner rejoices. Yeah, sort of, but the bag is actually unimportant other than to be the catalyst for a series of actions and reactions that have got me thinking about being 'customer facing' and about 'knowing before speaking'.
  
The first area of concern is that  somewhere miscommunication occurred and this is not good for any of the parties involved.
  
The second concern-making bit  is that, whether intended or not, the buck was fairly and squarely shifted onto the person who took the bag. Whether this was done with sloping shoulders aforethought or accidentally because the person didn't know the full story, this is what occurred.
  
The third and most worrying thing is the customer facing element. The customer is always right regardless of whether they are right or not and whether or not you're happy, sad, tired or distracted.
    
The remedies are simple really:
  
i. We always need to engage by taking the other person's issue and treating it seriously and professionally. Perhaps a bit of 'matching', whereby we mirror the concern, animation, frustration or whatever of the person with whom we're dealing, would come in handy here. One of the greatest wind-ups is to appear to diminish or make light of another person's problem (real or perceived). A good counselling rule applies here - whether or not the problem exists, if the other person thinks there's a problem, then a problem exists!
    
ii. Be honest. If we're approached and don't fully understand the situation, seek clarification from the other person and others, even if this means putting things on hold for a few minutes. We need to explain that we're not sure about the situation and make sure we can work from facts and not supposition. To do so and portray things as they are not is to foster an untruth - yep, you're lying (whether or not you intended to).
    
iii. Putting up our hands and accepting that something has gone wrong and that we recognise this, accept the fact and having done so will see to remedy the situation. This is essential, for there are so many sloping shoulders in our world today. Everyone can tell me why it wasn't their fault and most can point to another person who is the person responsible for everything from post appearing in our hedge through to world peace! Integrity demands that we accept that often, the buck does indeed stop with us. Accepting this says so much about a person and even though there might be fallout there will also be the reality that we can look ourselves in the eye. finally,
  
iv. To be customer facing means that we take those whom we seek to serve, service or provide for, seriously! The customer is always right, even when he is wrong, is not a bad premise to operate from. Of course there are times when they are obviously wrong, but starting off in the right manner means that this can be conveyed in such a way that they will see it. One of my niggles with Church and many other activities is the bleating comment, "But you're getting it for free!" or worse still, "Do you know how much I do for you people?" No one ever said it was going to be well received and the question has to be, "Who are you doing this for?"
    
Been an interesting situation, I have realised how easily we can shrug off things and shift blame, mishandle situations and cause grief by ignorance, mismanagement and being customer focussed. A lesson here for all of us in whatever walk of life, whatever community engagement and whatever place we find ourselves dealing with others.
    
Perhaps we need to copy those notices on many of the company vehicles these days.
  
Now - how's my ministry - telephone . . .