The gift is nice and I like it.
While Steve Jobs leaves the scene and leaves Apple in good hands, there are moths flying far away from good customer service.
Look, I'll tell you: hot weather with rain showers is like a fortune teller's prediction at the end of the year, zero confidence. We don't know if it's going to be a sunny or cloudy day, we just know it's going to be hot and whatever happens, happens. Not that the weather mattered much, but it was on a day like that that we celebrated Rebeca's birthday, one of our best 247 journalists.
Let's get to the facts. Cloudy day, August 11th, lunch at the Mariposa franchise in the Mundo Plaza business center, six journalists, an advertising executive, and the birthday girl. The lunch was fine, the real problem was the (unpleasant) gift that followed. Here's the story: Gabriela (the waitress) announces, "Here, the birthday person gets a MINI crepe," Rebeca thanks her and chooses the flavor. Gabriela, with a smile on her face, asks, "Do you have your ID card?" Rebeca, without her ID, talks to her, but doesn't convince the person in charge of the establishment. In short: birthday girl without ID, gift canceled.
Well, even two weeks after the incident, all the 247 journalists in Bahia, and this advertising professional here, are still staying far away from that crepe shop. Life goes on, but if that Mariposa franchisee had done what Steve Jobs did, things would be very different. He would have put someone with more tact in charge of his business. Someone capable of understanding that, after a three-figure bill, a MINI crepe, with or without an ID card, wouldn't make the slightest difference.
This analogy with Steve Jobs and Apple – the world's largest publicly traded company – is very apt. With Jobs' departure, Apple has just welcomed its new Chief Operating Officer (CEO). The all-powerful figure is Tim Cook, former vice president of operations. He was already responsible for strategies for resellers, retailers, and the Macintosh division. Now, he takes full control of all operations at the Apple company, something some believe he's been doing since 2009. Would a guy like that have canceled that MINI crepe?
Just to wrap things up. Let it be noted, the Mariposa franchise is 100% from Bahia, is present in four states, and I've been a regular customer since 2004. I've always received excellent service, except for this last time. The attitude of the person "in charge" of the establishment was so atypical that it reminded me of a popular saying: "Sometimes, we put a man as the gatekeeper of the cemetery and he thinks he's the guardian of eternity." I'll leave it at that, close the account.