Dealing with loss

Everyone has their own way of dealing with loss. Losses come in various forms - from loss of a loved one who bid adieu to the world, loss of job, loss of position in society, loss of money. The loss that you incur is directly propotional to the value attached to the loss. Some are recoverable losses and others simply are not. Those that are un-recoverable are ususally priceless and the impact is huge.

In the past few years I have faced quite a few losses in my professional and personal life and have had to deal with it. Being a part of a very closely knit Indian family meant that any losses that I faced impacted not only me but also my family members. Perhaps the sheer scope of the impact has taught me how to deal with a loss a little better because I not only had to overcome the impact on myself but also hold my families' hand and support them on the road to their recovery. The vice versa is also true. My family has held my hand firmly when the impact has been more on me than them.

So a loss in its own way teaches a lot of things and makes the affected individual much wiser than before. One of the major lessons that it teaches to the Indian society is the value of the family. India is slowly but surely chucking out its core strength out of the window in pursuit of global excellence and recognition. Losses and dealing with them solidifies the foundation on which the family operates as a single unit and perhaps these are situatins where one is exteremely glad that we do have a few people in the world who will cushion us and break our fall...the importance of the family as a unit is reinforced. Having and maintaining good realtions with the family unit makes dealing with a loss a lot easier than what it would have been without a family. So when in a situation of loss talking to a family member heals and allows one to overcome.

Another group of people who can help one deal with the loss are called friends. Since they are peers they offer a shoulder to cry on to and lend their ears to you. And often would also guide you on how to deal with the loss. Their methodology or advice can either contradict or complement the advice received from elders in the family.

So ultimately the onus lies with you as to which advice is feasible and workable. That is something that you need to decide on your own... you are alone in the kind of decision that you make. The elders base their advice on their experiences in life. Your friends base their advice on a mixture of limited experince, sense of justice, aggression, 'we got to set it right' kind of attitude - lack of acceptance can be harful to dealing with loss. It can either worsen the loss or help you heal. So after the initial impact has worn off it is best to keep a calm and open mind to decide on the course of action. Any decision that you make at this point of time will last you a lifetime and therefore wisdom has to be exercised. Sometimes a cocktail of both kind of advices work the best.

Another organisation that is expected to show empathy to you during your time of loss is the organisation that you work for. Here empathy is shown when the loss is of personal kind. They probably are the perpetuators of any professional loss that you face and hence there would be no empathy on that front. Through personal experience I can vouch for the fact that an employee-friendly organisation makes dealing with personal loss a whole lot easier.

A high emotional intelligence quotient comes in very handy in dealing with any kind of loss - personal or professional. When you loose a dear one through natural causes then dealing with it is a lot easier than when you loose one due to un-natural causes. Overcoming both these kinds of losses needs perseverance, strong will, conviction, fighting spirit and hope. Overcoming other kinds of personal losses apart from loosing a dear one needs the ability to let bygones be bygones, forget and perhaps forgive and the ability to learn a few lessons from life and have the courage to move ahead. Motivation to overcome loss is very important to actually overcome it. Self motivation is the best kind of motivation that one has.

Professional losses have a wider impact in the sense that they impact your personal life too and there are fewer people who can empathise with you. Doing an analysis of a professional loss with a calm mind and perhaps in hindsight teaches quite a few invaluable lessons. Analyse the situation objectively, what was wrong, what was right, what can be changed as they are in your circle of influence, be open and work towards changing these things which will include changing youself... and never repeat the same mistake - these are roughly the steps that are to be followed in case of a professional loss. These steps are not as easy to implement as it had been easy to write them down. They can only be implemented over a period of time with varying degrees of success. The key is not to get dis-heartened and try again in case you fail the first time.

If I were to put all the above in just one word then the only thing that helps you overcome and deal with any kind of loss is just one thing - your own ATTITUDE.

Five Points Anyone...

This is in continuation with the previous article but with the more positive outlook to it as here I would not be talking about "Lack of" something. One of the most common oft repeated saying is that "Life is a journey of discovery". I agree as we are constantly adapting to the things that are forever changing around us. This journey often leads us to sometimes successful and sometimes unsuccessful activities. The success or the faiure of an activity depends upon one's attitude towards it. The following points helped me a lot in understanding things:

Learn from Failures

Life may be full of failures. But a failure is not the end of the road. It is a delay and not a defeat. If we learn from it instead of being discouraged from it and try until we succeed then it will be termed as experience. But I must admit that life is too short to make all the mistakes and then learn from it. We should be open to learning from the mistakes of other people as well. This is a two edged sword because we need to be sure that we do not "over learn" from other people's mistake and dont take calculated risks or become passive. The best way to handle failure is:

• Admit it quickly
• Not dwell on it
• Learn from it
• Never repeat it
• Not assign blame or make excuses
  

Overcoming Fatalistic Attitude

A fatalistic attitude prevents people from overcoming their current situation and most of the time people believe that what will happen has to happen. Lack of effort and over believing in luck does not help matters any. Most people fail because they gave up when they were very close to success. Then we blame it on luck and our stars of making our lives the way it is.

Understanding Cause and Effect

How many times have we heard the 3rd Law of Newton and repeated it also? But do we incorporate this in our lives? Most of us do not. We just hear the law - "every action has an equal and opposite reaction", marvel at its correctness and move on. Lets stop here for a while and ponder upon this. Every person has some ambition. Ambitions are not fulfilled just by wishing. Ambition gives us the desire to sow and this desire is the begining. One cannot start to reap before sowing and has to allow for the gestation period between sowing and reaping. What we sow, we shall reap those. If we sow positivity then we get positive results and if we sow negativity then we will get negative results. It depends on what you sow.

If you sow abundantly then you will reap abundantly too. You may choose not to sow at all. But if you dont sow then weeds will grow in the open space nonetheless. There is a very common saying in Hindi - "Khali dimag shaitan ka ghar hota hai".

Another common Nature's Law is the Law of Attraction. From experience I can say that if a person is negative in nature then he or she will be attracting only negative people, negative actions and expect the worst. This is what they get too. A positive person has higher rate of success as he or she attracts positive and successful people around them. This is not to say that a positive person does not fail but the manner in which he views failure makes the difference.

Plan, Prepare and Act - Consistency and Discipline

Having ambition and goals lend pupose to life. Fulfilling of ambition requires planning to achieve the ambition. One should have some plan of action for achieving the ambition or the goal. Planning leads to preparing for the activities leading to the goal or ambition. Preparation gives confidence. Winners put pressure on preparation and not worry about winning. If they fail the first time, then they will learn from it, modify their plan of action, and proceed on towards achieving the goal again. Preparation means tolerating failure but not accepting it.

Preparation requires a lot of self sacrifice and discipline. People without discipline try to do everything, but commit themselves to nothing. This is called freedom by many liberal thinkers. Discipline takes a lot of self control, sacrifice and avoiding distractions and temptations. Discipline narrows down the focus and helps us to stay focussed. Discipline will lend consistency and push us towards our ambition a little further everytime.

Shive Khera writes in his book - "When people lack purpose or direction, they see no oppurtunity. If a person has the desire to accomplish something, knows the direction to move to achieve his objective, has the dedication to stay focussed, and has the discpline to put in hard work, then success follows. But if you dont have purpuose or direction, it does not matter what else you have, you won't succeed"

Courage

Dont look for easy tasks or miracles. Oppurtunities comes with bundled with obstacles. Obstacles need to be overcome with courage. After overcoming them, look at what is left rather than what is lost. Wishes dont come true; beliefs and expectations supported by convictions do. Luck and prayers support courageous actions. Courage gives us the strength ot overcome our fears and obstacles.

The points stated here are the extension of the points stated in the previous article. Most of the things that I have penned down today are alreeady known to he ready. But knowing the points does not mean that the principles have been applied in real life. Please extend your comments about the article and feel free to let me know if I missed out on some point.

I would like to again state to the reader that this article is influenced by the Books of Shiv Khera.

I let go of the Nuts...

It has been a long tme since I have penned something the primary reason for this being the Nuts that I was holding and then I came across this little story about "How they catch Monkeys in India". So, I finally decided to open my hand and let go off the Nuts and set myself free.

The Nuts that I was holding were:

1. Lack of Conviction: I was not too convinced that my thoughts were well formulated for public consumption. The style of writing was mediocre at the best. This is what I am going to term Fear - False Evidence Appearing Real. Now, I am convinced that writing is a form of outlet of feelings and thought processes. Every piece that I write does not need to have a meaning hidden and a moral to be drawn at the end of the story.

2. Lack of Persistence: I took the easy way out and almost quit writing. But this is not something that I practise in real life. I am very persistent about my job and relationships. I try to see the brighter side of life 95% of the time.So why I cant apply the same rule when it came to expressing myself. We all have setbacks in our lives and having failed a couple of times does not mean that I am a failure in this thing.

3. Instant Gratification: Perhaps I was looking for every article that I write to be appreciated by all and sundry. Forgetting that not all people have equal tastes. I have stumbled before in doing things but have always picked mysef up and redone it so untill I made a success or some sort of a success out of it. I rationalized that I dont like every book that I read by a particular author. Similarly, it is not necesasry that every article of mine should be appreciated. I am a success if I can convey my fealings and thought processes in a coherent manner.

4. Unwilling to take risks: People sometimes mistake irresponsible and rash behaviour as risk taking. I beg to differ from this viewpoint because more often than not these kinds of irresponsible risk taking brings us negative results and ultimately leads to failure. When I write something then I cant make irresponsible statements becuase what I write may effect the thought processes of another person. Responsible risk-taking is based on knowledge, training, careful study, confidence and competence. Right now I am trying to get there and be a an informed risk taker instead of an irresponsible risk taker. This is a process of a lifetime.

5. Lack of Ambition: Being content does not mean lack of ambition. This fact dawned to me gradually. Generally, I am a very contented person taking life as it comes but am sure of what I want and figure out ways to acheieve them. I can apply this same rule to my writing when I apply this rule to the other things in my life in general. That does not mean that I dont want to improve my style of writing and be content with whatever that I dish out but I am willing to modify my errors in writing along the way.

6. Lack of taking a Stand - Stand for something instead of stand against something: When I express my viewpoints then I am being vocal about the stand that I need to take for or against something. I feel that taking a stand for something is more important because this very fact has again made me pick up my pen again. I required the expression of my thought processes. I like the feeling of hope that this might actually benefit the reader of this article. Making a clear stand is very important and defines us as people. Simply not supporting the wrong is not enough; you need to do something against the wrong and stand for something.

7. Lack of Purpose: Its all in our head: Henry Ford said, "If you think you can or if you think you cant, you are right". I accept this and I think that I can.

8. Lack of Priorities: Definig ones priorities takes discipline and stop looking for substitutions. I have a very strong desire to give back to life the good things that life has given me. And there are many ways that I can do this in. I figured out that writing is also one of the ways in which I can do this and share my views and experiences with others. I realise that I have wated time and for me time wasted is a life wasted. I am learning not to do things that are based on my whims and fancies and I am being largely successful in doing that. Success does not come by reading or memorizing the priciples of sucess but by understanding them and setting up priorities to apply them.

9. No Free Lunches: For everything gained you need to give up something. Nothing comes free. But in order to achieve all that I want to achieve then if I have to give up some of my "bad habits" then I will consider that I have made a good deal.

10. Lack of Analysis: Well...I think I dont need to say much on this. The above points are enough to proove that I have analysed my way out of this and have penned down my first article in a long time. Shiv Khera states that rationalising is for loosers and analysing is for winners. Rationalising means that we are pacifying ourselves why a particular thing did not happen or we dont want it to happen and is a negative stand in my viewpoint. Analysing is more positive as we think about the situation and figure out how to elevate oursleves from the situations.

I hope that these points can be successfuly utilized by the reader of the article. I was guided a lot by the books by Shiv Khera and the above aricle is based on the points that he expresses on "Failure - 20 reasons why we cannot achieve success". Also, my motivating factor has been my sister who has been persistent that I should write and above all myself that I was driven by the will to write.

Dealing with being Single

I am single. This is a sentence that I am privileged to use everytime that someone asks me my marital status. Being an Indian and living in India all my life that statement meets with quite a few raised eyebrows. Some people are shocked, some are jealous, some smirk, some look at me down their noses..... but all have the same set of inquisitive questions which I have learned to deal with effectively without hurting anyone's sentiments un-duly.

I am not against the institution of marriage. I think it still can be one of the best relationships that two people can share and be a part of. But is being single a bad way to live one's life.... NO.

Just as married life has its advantages so does being single. But the advantages are not immediately apparent during the years when both you and your family are adjusting to the fact that you would prefer to remain single. In a country where the concept of remaining single, especially for women, is still largely un-acceptable it has been a long, hard journey.

One of the things that one has to deal with is the loneliness that one is bound to feel sometimes when one is single. The feeling cannot go away completely but can be minimised to a great extent. It depends from individual to individual how they deal with this un-wanted fact of life. Developing new hobbies is one of the ways that one can overcome it. Personally, I have dealt with it by developing my tastes in books, music and photography. Being single gives you the advantage of acheiving things in life that enriches your mind and soul early in life. One just needs to identify the advantages offered and capitalise on it. (That is not to say that married women cannot do the same..... but there are always other things that need to be done.... especially for the children... and their dreams get relegated to the background ... to be fulfilled later.)

Another thing that one has to deal with is the lack of chance of having one's own children. The concept of single motherhood has still not caught up in India. Further more, laws of adoption for single women are very difficult. Not everyone is Sushmita Sen :-) . Well... that is a void that can never be fulfilled un-fortunately. This is something that cannot be overcome in today's Indian society and we have to adjust to this fact of life ..... consider it as a consequence for the decision taken in life. It can only be minimised to a certain degree for those people who are passionate about social work involving children.

One of the tougest things to deal with are the inqusitiveness of the society.... relatives, neighbors, friends, peers. Listening to the some of the hurtful comments can really bring one's morale down sometimes..... and it takes away self esteem and self confidence with itself. This can be overcome completely by following a few simple tricks.... 1) Practice diplomacy while reacting to the sometimes hurtful comments 2) Learn to ignore ... God has given you two ears.... one to take in what is being said and one to take out what is being said.... use it 3) Don't let them bring your self esteem down... that is worst thing that you can allow to happen.

Another mis-conception that society has is that being single means completely devoid of any responsibilities. But is that really true? I do not think so. Is there any gain in fghting the mis-conception or being frustrated about it? NO. This is something that is very difficult to change and is best left alone. Life your life to the best of your ability.... thats it.

Being single in today's world has it's own set of advantages. Gone are the days when women used to think that marriage brings with itself some kind of independence. Single women these days are as independent ... or should i say... more independent than married women. Financial independence being one of the major thrusts that ensures all other kind of independence..... independence of thought, independence of action, indendence to life ones life as one wishes to live it.

Just as married life require adjustments to be made with our ownself and your spouse; being single also require adjustments and compromises to be made. So, put your best foot forward, count your blessings and smile... smile because you are single..... :-)

Learning your lessons in Life…..

After having penned two blogs on lessons life teaches it struck me it is not only imperative to learn a few lessons in life but also learn the right kind of lessons in life. As an intelligent human being I still do not proclaim that I am the best judge of what is good or right lesson in life for not only myself but for others too. This is where I draw a very firm line. I know myself the best. And therefore I am the best judge to interpret the situations in my own life and learn my own lessons from them. I do not claim to know any other person as well as I know myself and therefore cannot claim to be an authoritarian over what is right or wrong for them.

Having said that, I would like to trot out another oft repeated fact of life. Each person is different and unique with his or her own personality. So they would have their own perceptions of the situations in life. With the difference in the perception levels it is but natural that the lessons that life would teach each individual is also very different and unique.

The only fact that remains a constant irrespective of the difference in perception of the situations in life is the fact that the current interpretations shape and nurture the personality and character of an individual and therefore is a parameter to measure the success that one achieves in life. Success again is a very subjective term.

Being just a novice in the vast domain of self improvement my ideas or perceptions about the same are still in its formative stages. According to what I have seen and learnt till date the only thing that I can say is that if the lessons that you learn from life are more negative than positive then something is definitely wrong somewhere. If one progressively become a more negative person instead of a positive one then it is time to change how he/she interprets the situations in life…. wake up…. Give it a good shake…. Analyze, think and re-arrange…. That is what is required in case the experiences in life are teaching you more negative things than positive ones.

One of the first steps towards self improvement is to recognize the areas which are in need of improvement. The next step is to invest time to analyze and change yourself to become a better person. It is one thing to know and quite another to actually go about doing something about it. For some people the negativity and the suppression become a very comfortable zone and they do not want to move out of it. Basically, the idea of change petrifies them. So until and unless the second step (that is of investing time) is met, the first step is inconsequential.

So shake yourself up and learn the right things. There is no right time or age to start learning and improving. I would like to finish off by saying that life is too short to learn only from one’s own mistakes. Some smart people also have the ability to learn from the mistakes of others.

Happy Learning……

Self Esteem .... Your Self View

To me self esteem denotes the view that you have about your own self. Just as your tone conveys a lot of thing sto other people, your own self esteem also conveys a lot of things to other people. And you get the appropriate reactions from other people on your own self esteem.... they respond to you in a manner that you tell them.... or should I say convey to them.... to respond to you. Your self esteem also finds expression in your body language... which is as strong as the verbal one.

A lot can be written and said about Self Esteem and its sister Self Confidence. But the following extracts from articles by Carla Valencia explains it all:

Self Esteem

It is the Knowing that you are worth already. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, means:

1) A confidence and satisfaction in oneself
2) A reasonable or justifiable sense of one's worth or importance .
3) An often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with one's situation or achievements
4) A great faith in oneself or one's abilities

The 3 last sentences are linked to pride , complacence and confidence. Let's take a look at this words:
Pride: a feeling of self-respect and personal worth
Complacence: calm or secure satisfaction with oneself.
Confidence: Great faith in oneself or one's abilities. The state or quality of being certain: Confidence in your ability to succeed.

Self esteem is the idea that you have about yourself. It is how much you value yourself and how important you think you are. It is how you see yourself .

Characteristics of a healthy self esteem:

1) Self-confidence
2) Able to have intimacy in relationships.
3) Able to show true feelings.
4) Ability to recognize your own accomplishments.
5) Ability to forgive yourself and others.
6) Welcome change.

Characteristics of low self esteem:

1) Insecurity, lack of Self-confidence.
2) Problems in establishing intimacy in relationships.
3) Hide true feelings.
4) Inability to reward yourself for accomplishments.
5) Inability to forgive yourself and others.
6) Fear of change.

Self Confidence

According to the dictionary self-confidence means:

Confidence in oneself or one's own abilities:

How do we build self-confidence? There are some tips that will help you to build self-confidence:

1. Be your best friend . Use your self-talk to empower you not to put yourself down. Do not expect perfection from yourself all the time. Remember that you are always doing the best you can with the resources you have.

2. Accentuate the positive. Keep always in mind your positive qualities. Refresh every morning your best qualities, things you have done right. Accentuate in the positive not the negative. There is always something positive that happen to you during the day. Celebrate the event.

3. Take some risks. Try to take some risk, do not worry about the outcome, just do it. If you do not try you will not feel good about yourself. Take a risk and see what happens. If it turns out good, wonderful! you will feel great about yourself. If it did not turn out good, is ok. Remember? You are not perfect. Your are learning and growing and even though you think you failed, you will feel good about yourself because you took the risk.

4. Relay on your self-evaluation Forget about the opinion of others. Do not wonder all day about what they think. If you do this you are giving away your power to other people. Focus inside of you, feel in your heart. Develop a good relationship with yourself and trust your instincts.

Remember that no one can be confident all the time.

People with low self-esteem worry too much about what other people think about them. They get stuck in the thought that other people are better than them. They do not allow themselves to be. They have unrealistic expectations and they have a lot of fear of rejection.

So work towards building a healthy self esteem and self confidence. That is the best gift that you can give yourself.

Say NO.... Gently but Frimly

One of the words which gets wiped out from our vocabulary is the two lettered one which would make our lives a lot easier. And the two-letter word happens to be 'NO'. The word denotes a negative response and it is not good to be associated with anything negative.... right?..... No, wrong..... absolutley wrong. This negative response sometimes can denote the kind of values that you suppport and your stand on a particular situation.

In today's competitive world where everyone wants 'success' .... 'success' as in a bigger house, a bigger car, a bigger bank balance ..... most choose the easy way out by being a 'Yes Man' to the big heads of the organisation. That is the only way that they know how to beat the competition and get ahead in life. They have somewhere lost their faith on good old hard work and dedication. Nothing is a problem and everything is acheivable for these yes men. But their in-ability to say a 'No' at the right places and to the right people has got too much of costs associated with it. Costs which are not immediately apparent but life does not spare the costs that that he has to bear. Unfortunately, some of the cost is also borne by others who are associated with him. Do you think that it is fair?

Every individual has a set of values and rules that he has inculcated from his family and his peers. A persons's character is built by these. It is good to stand up for your values and traditions even if it means dis-pleasing a powerful few or a few near and dear ones. At least you would not have compromised on your own self in order to reach where-ever it is that you want to reach. Say a No when you think that it is compromising on your ownself and your self worth. Is anything more worthy than your own self-worth? If the answer to the question is 'No' then you just need to be a little more confident and assertive in saying a No and making your opinion known to the other person. If the answer to the question is 'Yes'.... then my friend you need to start from building a healthy self worth through self analysis before proceeding further.

There are many ways of saying a 'No'... depends from one person to another and situation to situation.

There are people who like to hear a straightforward 'No' and communicate a starightforward 'No' too.... but such people are very few and rare. Some can say it but cannot take it..... human nature after all. But my take is that if you can dish it out you should also know how to take it.

Then there are another set of people who have BIG egos and cannot take a no. One of the best ways to saying a 'No' to them is by using positive sentences only. Do not say a 'No' directly to them. I other words I am saying is that make good use of all the wide variety of excuses that one tells their elders to get out of a sticky situation without saying a 'No' ;-). Better still if you have an alternative plan of action then it might be a good place to put it forward and gain some appreciation for yourself... hopefully.

Remember, the tone that one uses, the language used, the context that it is used in and the person at the receiving end of the decision actually determine the effect that your 'No' has. But would you rather say a 'No' or would you rather live a life where your opinion is of the least significance and cannot stand up for yourslef.... think about it.......

Lessons Life Teaches - II

All of us have been customers for a variety of organisations for a variety of household and electronic goods. Randomly, if a poll is taken then most of the people will express their dis-satisfaction on the quality of services being met out to them. The reasons can be genuine or otherwise.

I would like to share a couple of incidents that taught be some valuable lessons in customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Again some examples of lessons that life teaches for one to perform better in our own professional life.

In the recent past, I received a call from a major insurance company. The insurance company had outsourced their tele-calling services to tap potential customers. I received the call from one such tele-caller. After the general round of introductions, I was detailed about a new policy that the company had launched. Then the usual round of questions started... What is my age? Hearing my age, he started addressing me as Mrs. Deepa. I ignored it and continued answering the questions....... Am I working? Where am I working? What is my monthly income? Am I married? ..... Now the last question was a little meaningless since he had already decided that I was married and was addressing me as Mrs. But my answer surprised him. I told him I was un-married. His shock at the fact was evident from his tone and the fact that he double-checked my age too. To make things even worse, he asked me who the decision maker in my family was? I was surprised at the question but I avoided it. But his insistence proved inflamatory to me as a potential customer. Looking at the fact that I was avoiding him, he made the last mistake.... he kept down the phone on me. And they lost a couple of potential customers forever........ and i hope they would loose a couple of more customers..... those who are reading this blog or those to whom I have narrated the story.

In a few words..... the quality of the phone call was dismal and un-professional to the extreme.

Lessons learnt:

1) Choose people who interact with customers carefully.
2) Train customer facing people with the utmost care.
3) Cultural sensitization has its own advantages. It should be practiced.
4) Be polite... be polite.... be polite.
5) Know how to end a conversation.
6) Do not, in any way, insult the customer.

Having been a part of the service industry for a very long time now I have had the opportunity to attend some soft skill workshops to handle our customers .... like Dealing with Difficult People. In this case, I was the one practicing my skills of 'Dealing with Difficult People' instead of the other way round..... ;-P.

Another incident that taught me a few valuable lessons happened with my sister. For making a trip to Delhi from Bangalore, she had made use of the e-booking facilities of a well known and well advertised travel house to book return flight tickets to Bangalore. Since she got the similar job opportunity in Delhi itself, she called up the travel house to cancel her return tickets to Bangalore. She was not given a transaction-id number since the computer systems there were not working properly. The next day she called up the travel house again and confirmed whether her tickets had been cancelled. This time round she was given a transaction id and assured that her tickets had been cancelled. Next month, she was surprised to find out that she had been billed the entire ticket amount since she had not cancelled the ticket. She kept on following up with the travel house for a month. Every time she spoke to a new executive and had to repeat her concern again and again and again. But without any solution. Inspite of repeated requests, she was not put through to the manager. Her mails to the manager too went un-answered. Finally, she landed up paying for the tickets that she had taken care to cancel and be penalised for not having any more reasons to go back to Bangalore.

In a few words..... the quality of the service was dismal and un-professional to the extreme.

Lessons Learnt:

1) Maintain records of customer interaction
2) Ensure that you give an empathetic reply to a concerned customer
3) Ensure that the customer is not the one to pay for the mistakes that the customer had not made.... financially or otherwise
4) Be open and tell the truth to the customer. That would save the customer a lot of hassles.
5) Follow-up with the customer in case the query remains un-resolved instead of the other way round
6) Stick to the deadlines / committments that you have made to the customer.

In short.... Life is a good teacher. You should know how to learn from it.