Do you get angry when you go to the doctor and your appointment is at 10:00 yet the doctor doesn’t see you until 10:40?  In addition, if you miss it, they charge you.  Wow, they can hold you up but charge you if you make a mistake.

Whenever I mention this to people, they make excuses about how busy doctors are and how they have a lot of things out of their control so appointments have to be flexible.  I don’t buy it.  I think it’s just bad business.  If you make an appointment, it is a promise and keeping it shows respect to the patient.  I mean, my time is important to me and I have things to do too, why should doctors have some sort of monopoly over people’s time?

I am not trying to come down on doctors here because they’re not the only ones, dentists, auto shops, and the biggest offenders, telephone, electric and cable companies…you know, “you have to be home between 12 and 5.”  Why is it that disrespecting people’s time has become okay?  Why do these folks get a pass?

Is your business an offender?  What can you do to honor your appointments and be there on time?  What can you do to either take less appointments or staff up to handle people on their time not yours?  Service is about helping people and great service is about doing it in ways that honor people’s time.

Much like the famous Seinfeld episode where he makes a reservation to rent a car only to find out that the car rental company has no cars when he shows up.  In his words, “Anyone can take a reservation; the secret is in holding the reservation.”  Funny, yes, but so true; make my appointment and be reasonable in keeping it, is that so much to ask?