Resolving customer issues—the day we solved the chirp

June 7, 2024 will go down in my history records as the ‘Day We Solved the Chirp.’ We moved into our new home the prior August, and from day one, we could hear an alarm chirping from the housing development opposite us. This was that annoying chirp—you know, the one that usually goes off at 3 am. Change batteries. Return to the Land of Nod. Simple.

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Well, that’s what most people do. Sadly, this alarm has been sounding every 30 seconds, 24/7 since we moved in. I see many parallels with the workplace, so come walk the neighborhood with me.

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We have a sub homeowners association, so they were my first port of call. Two employees of the sub were on it. Within one day, they came. We visited the area and narrowed it down to one home. The trouble was, the resident didn’t answer the ring and so with this being part of another sub-association, they recommended I contact them.

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The problem was, the second sub-association was not as proactive or as solution-minded. Eventually, after weeks I did get one of their employees to come out. We stood outside the same building. We heard the same chirp. The employee of the second sub promised she’d contact the resident, but I don’t believe she did.

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Two workplace lessons right there: why do some people choose to be more proactive and customer-centered than others? Why do some people not do what they say they’re going to do?

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I followed up several times over many months, and then, irritated by my persistence I’m sure, the employee from the second sub decided to deny ever hearing the chirp outside the home her employer supported. She blamed the chirp on other developments up on the hill. When I respectfully challenged this, she said the chirp could be coming from the birds. Huh?

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Therein lies another workplace application: why do some employees want to pass the blame to others and have to be chased to do what they said they’d do?

This employee then just stopped responding to my follow-ups. E-mail silence.

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Eventually, after about six attempts over as many months, I got an email from her manager agreeing to have the fire officer visit, (as I’d raised a concern about the potential risk because, the alarm was obviously calling attention to an issue that needed to be… fixed).

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The subject-matter experts did come out. Sadly, I didn’t get to walk the area with the three fire officers. Why it needed three fire officers to check out a household alarm is beyond me. They apparently concluded it could be, “coming from anywhere” and wandered off-site, never to be seen again.

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Isn’t that also like the workplace? We often hire consultants—subject-matter experts who cost a lot, don’t tell us much and then disappear?

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I politely pushed again and last Friday—the Day of Solution, two construction dudes from the builder came. Within seconds, they agreed on the source of the chirp. They rang the bell, and the resident thankfully answered, and then it hit us—a cloud of marijuana smoke. It was intense.

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The resident denied hearing an alarm, although judging by the pungent smell it didn’t surprise me, as I’m not sure she even knew what day it was. She allowed access, and within seconds, my new best friend from the builder identified the source of the chirp and switched out the batteries. Done.

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Therein lies the final workplace lesson for me—often it’s the person who works most closely with the product or the service (in this case, construction) who know best. Layers of supervision, management, and subject-matter experts sometimes lose sight of what the customer needs and just keep pushing the puck around hoping the customer complaint will go away.

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And why this Golden State ever legalized the recreational use of marijuana is beyond me. It certainly doesn’t make for good neighborly relations, and I’m sure with many now working from home, productivity is negatively impacted.? I’m not sure what my Space Cowgirl neighbor does for a living, but I don’t think it’s much.

Paul Butler is a Client Partner at Newleaf Training and Development (newleaftd.com) and can be reached at [email protected] or 661 288 1004.?

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