For my last entry, I referred to a client who was gearing up to make a complaint against me for having been kept waiting, even though the other clients that day had waited for much longer than her. While I am sure I haven't heard the end of it, so far, I've heard nothing further.

That night though, after my day at the airport had come to an end, I received an email requiring my urgent attention. Another female client HAD complained. The issue was this. There were several ships in Sydney that day. The Diamond Princess was departing later in the day, the cruise cost may have been higher and the ships belonged to different companies! Clients at the airport joining the Diamond Princess were transferred to a hotel where they could rest, recuperate, freshen up and a hospitality desk was there to provide them with information. The other ships didn't provide this, with clients being transferred straight to the wharf. She knew this perhaps from speaking to those Diamond Princess passengers who were on her flight, a possibility, since they had been in transit for two hours in Hong Kong. When I greeted her, she asked why wasn't she going to be taken to their hotel. That night her husband put pen to paper, and his letter of complaint was sent from the ship to my manager and onto me. They demanded compensation. Wine with lunch and dinner and a bottle of champagne to be delivered to their cabin every day for the duration of their cruise to make up for their considerable distress by me not treating them as SPECIAL!

What I recall was that I had explained that anyone joining the Diamond Princess that morning would indeed be taken to a hotel to freshen up. I also explained that anyone joining the cruise they were on were not provided with this. All clients on their cruise did not have a hotel to go to. She believed she was deserving of special treatment, of being treated differently to the rest. And how often do I find that!

So I'd like to share with you an experience I had last week. On Christmas Day I attended mass at my local church in Sydney. We sang, we shook hands, we mingled and then departed. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just like any other Christmas Mass. In Sydney at present, we have a very well known person staying with us. Bill Gates and his family were there with us in our church. It was to his credit that he blended in with the rest of us. Just as he has gone unnoticed playing tennis at our local tennis club. A reporter from Adelaide, another city in Australia reported on this, otherwise noone would have known. Perhaps there is a lesson for us all there.