The Airport Wendy's of Burgerdom

Ordering a single, as opposed to a triple, out of courtesy to my nutritionist, I waited for my order, and watched the three people after me order. Here’s what was said:

“Gimmie a #2 with a Large Coke.”

“You got any biscuits? Yeah? Gimmie 2.”

“Large coffee, one egg and cheese.”

What’s missing from all three transactions?

Manners.

When did we blatantly lose all our manners? When did we become, essentially, cavemen and women, grunting our requests and not even recognizing the efforts of those who grant them? It’s a sad, sad day for manners.

As I look around the airport, I see it everywhere – At gate D2, there’s a mad rush to get on the plane, as if you miss the first five minute boarding window, you won’t ever board again. And we know what causes this – The rush for overhead space, with every idiot bringing on as much as they possibly can in a carry-on that’s too big to begin with.

The person standing dead-center-middle of the moving sidewalk, so no one can pass him on either side. Perhaps we just didn’t know it was his moving sidewalk, not everyone’s.

The funny thing is, society’s lack of manners can actually benefit those who still have them in countless ways. I’ve gotten more flight upgrades than I can count, simply by being the really nice guy on line behind the douchebag. When he leaves, I greet the agent with a knowing “sorry you had to deal with that” smile, say “please” and “thank you,” and boom, I’m in seat 1A.

I was exiting an elevator yesterday, and allowed the woman next to me to exit first. As she walked out and said “thank you,” I said, “you’re welcome, Marianne.” I had looked at her name tag as she was exiting.

She came up to me at the end of my speech and said “You know, I just have to tell you, you’re the first person to call my by my actual name all day! That was so thoughtful!”

Why do we wear name tags at conferences if we don’t plan on calling people by their names?

People blame our lack of manners on our “rushed” society, where we’re constantly looking down at our Blackberries and iPhones, and not communicating. When it comes down to it, though, I think we’ve just stopped caring. And that’s kinda sad.

We’ve turned into an “I’ll get mine,” society, where we only seem to care about ourselves. And strictly speaking from a business perspective, is a guaranteed way to go bankrupt. It’s common knowledge that acting different than everyone else is a good way to get noticed. So here’s my challenge to you:

Go out of your way today to use good manners to a customer or client, someone serving you, and a friend. Watch the reaction. Then do it again tomorrow. Try it for a week or two. You’ll be amazed. You’ll see differences in your business, as well.

Sometimes, it really is the simplest of things, you know?

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Andrews,

If I interpret your post correctly, these are your comments about Memphis a few hours after arriving in the global headquarters city of one of your key and lucrative clients, and the home of arguably one of the most important entrepreneurs in the history of business, FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Many of my peers and I feel this is inappropriate. We do not know the total millions of dollars FedEx Corporation pays Ketchum annually for the valuable and important work your company does for us around the globe. We are confident however, it is enough to expect a greater level of respect and awareness from someone in your position as a vice president at a major global player in your industry. A hazard of social networking is people will read what you write.

Not knowing exactly what prompted your comments, I will admit the area around our airport is a bit of an eyesore, not without crime, prostitution, commercial decay, and a few potholes. But there is a major political, community, religious, and business effort underway, that includes FedEx, to transform that area. We’re hopeful that over time, our city will have a better “face” to present to visitors.

James, everyone participating in today’s event, including those in the auditorium with you this morning, just received their first paycheck of 2009 containing a 5% pay cut… which we wholeheartedly support because it continued the tradition established by Mr. Smith of doing whatever it takes to protect jobs.

Considering that we just entered the second year of a U.S. recession, and we are experiencing significant business loss due to the global economic downturn, many of my peers and I question the expense of paying Ketchum to produce the video open for today’s event; work that could have been achieved by internal, award-winning professionals with decades of experience in television production.

Additionally Mr. Andrews, with all due respect, to continue the context of your post; true confession: many of my peers and I don’t see much relevance between your presentation this morning and the work we do in Employee Communications.

Be careful, people. In this day and age, you can’t afford not to.

Long-burst downtime, we all know, are the hours between the flight attendant saying  “Sir, the doors closed 15 minutes ago, Blackberry off, NOW,”  and that first “ka-thump” of the wheels hitting pavement, hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Then there’s short-burst downtime.

If you’re connected via an electronic leash (or by more than one, for some of us), short-burst downtime is the 15 or so minutes from the time you enter the subway outside your apartment until you exit the subway outside your office, or the 20 or so minutes when you’re sitting in traffic in the valley without signal, or the “please turn off the transmitter” time in the doctor’s office, etc.

We’re all smart enough to know what to do during long-burst downtime. Magazines, preventing Inbox-Bankruptcy, even using TripLife to make sure you get the best seatmate possible.

But how many of us actually use short-burst downtime to our advantage.

Behold… A top 8 list for making the most of short-burst downtime – those 20 minutes without signal, those 45 minutes when RIM next goes down, those 75 minutes when you’re at some event with your sig other’s parents so deep in the back-woods of Georgia that signal doesn’t exist.

Top 8 Short-Burst Downtime Networking Tips

8 ) “Hey, what’s going on” replies via text. All cell phones have a “store” feature, where you can send as many texts as you want, and the second you have signal, it’ll send them all. This rocks. Answer all those texts that weren’t urgent, firm up plans for the night, or just say hi to a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while. (the real beauty of texting.)

7) Gmail for Blackberry – I love my Blackberry Gmail application. Especially since I can write/reply/delete without a signal. Lets me catch up on all my email that’s secondary – mailing lists, humor, jokes, etc. Sends automatically upon reacquisition of signal

6) Hard restarts of all your devices… We tend to forget that our phones, blackberries, and the like are all simply computers – that tend to get a little fuzzy at times. Next time you actually get a seat on the train (I don’t recommend doing this as a standee) open the back, take out the battery, count to 50, then reinsert and watch it come back to life. Easy way to gain back some mobile speed.

5) TwitterBerry – You’re all on Twitter, right? Well, Twitterberry is awesome – It lets you see all your updates, friends updates, direct messages, and replies, right from a sweet, sweet Berry interface. Simply click on “get” before you descend, then catch up on all your friends.

4) Dump emails – We all keep emails because need some information – a date, a place we’re supposed to go… But once the event or information happens, we don’t need it, but we forget to delete it. Scroll all the way to the bottom of your mobile device’s email, and see what you don’t need any more. Delete it. It’ll make you happy.

3) Photo-a-Day… We’re all journalists now – We’ve all got at least one camera on us at all times. I actually have a blog category called “Idiot Things Travelers Do,” and tend to update it with photos of stupid people being stupid. It’s fun. Just don’t be obvious about it. Upload to Flickr, or on your blog, or even to Facebook, and you’re a budding photographer with tons of fans.

2) Compare your phone to your Address Book – Got tons of useful numbers (local café, pizza place, locksmith, cleaning woman) in your address book, but not in your phone? Add a few a day to your phone, and you’ll always have them when you need them. There’s a reason Tasos Café on 11th Avenue recognizes my voice. I can call from the Subway, and have something ready for takeout when I get there, three blocks away. That rocks.

1)  Facebook Mobile – This Blackberry application lets you download all of your friend’s status updates, as well as receive email, write on people’s walls, and the like. Best part is that you don’t need signal – download all the updates as you leave the house, and by the time you get on the subway, you can view them, write on walls, wish happy birthdays, and the second you’re above ground again, everything sends.

Got a favorite short-burst downtime tip for me? Do tell in the comments below.

With that said, this is Becca… She was my first Random Traveler Livecast. I focused on her for about four minutes, while she called a friend and discussed their workout plans – more specifically, talking about Yoga, what they would do to a specific Yoga instructor, and how they were going to meet up again next week.

So welcome to Becca, and we look forward to bringing lots more. Had you been online at the time, you would have actually heard the conversation. Stay tuned for future random traveler livecasts – that much is for damn sure.

Next, I’m also introducing “Idiot Things Travelers Do.” Perhaps I’m getting more cranky as I get older… Or perhaps the technology is getting better so I can show these things… I don’t know. What I do know, is that my tolerance for people doing stupid things is diminishing. And with the amount of technology I carry on my person at any given time, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to show it when I want to show it.

So with that said, I present the first installment of “Idiot Things Travelers Do.”

This idiot was on New Jersey Transit a few days ago, deciding that she could take up the entire row of seats. Let alone the people about to get on who would now have to stand.

The best part of this photo in my opinion, though, is the guy on the top left who’s totally laughing at what I’m doing. That make it all worth it.

I’m in Cleveland and Dayton later this week, speaking at the PRSA Central Ohio Luncheon. This should be fun. It’s sold out!  

More soon.