|
Originally published September
9, 2000 |
||
|
Every CEO, company president, and business owner should have to use his own automated voice mail system. If he finds it difficult, confusing, and/or irritating then why should he expect you, the customer, to want to do business on it. This is called "focusing on the end customer." A similar situation exists here on campus. A large number of freshmen and transfer students have been crammed into the dorms again this year. Many freshmen in double rooms find themselves with two roommates instead of only one. Some found they had four or five roommates when they were placed into rec rooms with no telephone, internet, or television service. I would imagine this would be a very difficult, confusing, and/or irritating experience for anyone, even more for a freshman. My question is, did the person who made this decision for the students try it first, them self? Did this person try living a few days in a small dorm room with a roommate made even smaller with the addition of an extra roommate? I doubt it. I'll bet my campus parking spot that this person wouldn't tolerate a similar situation for more than a few hours let alone several days or even weeks. Therefore, if the person in charge wouldn't accept the situation why would you expect the students to. That's not focusing on the end customer. People involved in making this decision are saying right now as they read this, "These are students, not customers!" Wrong, these students are the University's customers. Every student here paid good money. It might not be a lot of money when compared to the price of a new BMW, but it's still honest money especially if the student is paying one's own way. That makes a student a customer. These students have a powerful voice too. They're online every evening sending thousands of instant messages to their friends at home and at other colleges. Don't fool yourself for a second that they aren't talking about the overcrowding situation. They're spreading the word to everyone they know, including high school seniors, that Millersville isn't such a great place. This keeps up, the University might find the opposite problem in a few years. Now when an airline overbooks a flight, the overbooked people are usually compensated in some way-first class upgrade or something. Airlines realize that if you irritate a customer, they will never do business with you again. They also understand that losing just one customer is one customer too many. Should the University offer a compensation package? If so, is a reduced housing bill of 20 percent enough? ================================ |
||
 |
|