I had an incident at work today that really bothered me. A tall gentleman came in today to pick up an order. By tall I mean quite possibly the tallest man I've ever seen in my life, and I've been to several NBA games. Anywho, when he came in I greeted him normally and went to go check on his order. Before I had turned around another employee (my sister who should know better :| ) came up to him and made a good humored comment about his height, it was nothing distasteful so I let it slide and continued about my work.
While I was attending to his order I heard another employee call out to someone else to come check "something" out. One by one all the employees left the room and when they returned I learned that the "something" they were checking out was the tall gentleman at the counter. I promptly gave them a stern reprimand that sent my boss (the owner) out to investigate the man himself, to my dismay.
By the time I made it back to the gentleman I could see the man was visibly upset. Now he was older, perhaps mid-fifties, and was probably as used to these things happening as one can get. Before I could hand him his order, he coldly ask me "Would anyone else back there like to come stare at me before I leave?". I imediatly apologized to him and told him that I had an idea what he goes through and had already reprimanded my employees and promised to do so again. The look on his face when he turned to walk out left me with a knot in my stomach. I actually felt physically ill over what had happened and wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.
I went back to my boss and told him of the situation and let him know how strongly I felt about it. While my boss was still in front of me I addressed the crew and told them exactly how ****** of a deed they had just done. The man had seen them gawking and joking about his height, and making fun of someones disability to thier face is unacceptable.
After calming down I decided to give the man a call to offer another apology if he cared to listen. I was not concerned about trying to get back his business, I just wanted him to know that I had addressed the problem with the crew, and that I was sincere in my apology. While the phone call didn't go all that bad, I was disappointed that I didn't know how to rectify the situation for the man. This leaves me with a question for you tall folk.
What could I have done to fix the problem best? Is there anything that can be done in that situation?
I identify with the mans situation better than most I think. I have an uncle that is tall. Not as tall as the man today was, but taller than most people probably see on even an occasional basis. Without getting into the details of his personal life, I can tell you I'm aware of some of the problems he's had to deal with and would not wish something like that on anyone. The fact that the people I work with were so callous angers me. My boss was quick to agree with me about that, but failed to take any action, which limits my ability to take further action. The situation is frustrating to me and I don't expect anyone who isn't exceptionally tall to understand.
Cliffs:
Really Really tall guy comes into work today
Most other employees and boss gawk at tall guy
Tall guy is offended and upset
I'm unable to apologize to tall guy in a way that satisfies me
While I was attending to his order I heard another employee call out to someone else to come check "something" out. One by one all the employees left the room and when they returned I learned that the "something" they were checking out was the tall gentleman at the counter. I promptly gave them a stern reprimand that sent my boss (the owner) out to investigate the man himself, to my dismay.
By the time I made it back to the gentleman I could see the man was visibly upset. Now he was older, perhaps mid-fifties, and was probably as used to these things happening as one can get. Before I could hand him his order, he coldly ask me "Would anyone else back there like to come stare at me before I leave?". I imediatly apologized to him and told him that I had an idea what he goes through and had already reprimanded my employees and promised to do so again. The look on his face when he turned to walk out left me with a knot in my stomach. I actually felt physically ill over what had happened and wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.
I went back to my boss and told him of the situation and let him know how strongly I felt about it. While my boss was still in front of me I addressed the crew and told them exactly how ****** of a deed they had just done. The man had seen them gawking and joking about his height, and making fun of someones disability to thier face is unacceptable.
After calming down I decided to give the man a call to offer another apology if he cared to listen. I was not concerned about trying to get back his business, I just wanted him to know that I had addressed the problem with the crew, and that I was sincere in my apology. While the phone call didn't go all that bad, I was disappointed that I didn't know how to rectify the situation for the man. This leaves me with a question for you tall folk.
What could I have done to fix the problem best? Is there anything that can be done in that situation?
I identify with the mans situation better than most I think. I have an uncle that is tall. Not as tall as the man today was, but taller than most people probably see on even an occasional basis. Without getting into the details of his personal life, I can tell you I'm aware of some of the problems he's had to deal with and would not wish something like that on anyone. The fact that the people I work with were so callous angers me. My boss was quick to agree with me about that, but failed to take any action, which limits my ability to take further action. The situation is frustrating to me and I don't expect anyone who isn't exceptionally tall to understand.
Cliffs:
Really Really tall guy comes into work today
Most other employees and boss gawk at tall guy
Tall guy is offended and upset
I'm unable to apologize to tall guy in a way that satisfies me
