Improvement Insights Blog
The Burnt Toast Society
For many years, I’ve been endlessly annoyed by the mistakes and errors of every service and product business I use. From crappy cell phone service to mistakes on restaurant bills. I have hesitated to write about these experiences because it seemed too much like whining, but my daughter Tina introduced me to the concept of the “Burnt Toast Society.”
Burnt Toasters will eat burnt toast at a restaurant rather than send it back. I think American consumers put up with too much mediocrity. So I have decided to start complaining online about every burnt toast experience.
I recently flew back on Frontier Airlines from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) conference in Orlando. It was nighttime, so the cabin was dark, but my reading light didn’t work. I called this to the attention of the flight attendant who said they’d fix it in Denver after we land, but there was nothing he could do for me because the flight was full. He didn’t even offer me a free drink for my inconvenience. (Whatever happened to customer service on airlines?)
Perhaps if the passenger before me had complained about the reading light, it would have been fixed when I got on board.
By failing to report their discomfort, Burnt Toasters leave a trail of dissatisfied customers to deal with suppliers who don’t know they have a problem.
Shouldn’t Frontier have policy for rewarding customers who report quality problems? Isn’t this something that could be incorporated into standard work?
It’s time to stop tolerating mediocrity and poor quality. Burnt Toasters SPEAK UP. How can your vendors and suppliers get better if they don’t know they have a problem?
