How to deal with difficult situations

Well, bad news came last night. J1's grandfather passed away Monday afternoon. This necessitated a change in our travel plans -- rather than leaving for California next Wednesday, we are flying out Friday morning for the funeral on Saturday.

It's interesting how, in times of pain like this, it becomes disturbingly obvious that some people "get" how to deal with people who are going through a difficult times and others just have no idea of what is appropriate behavior.

Two experiences made this clear:

1. We needed to change out JetBlue tickets to fly out earlier. Every other airline that I know of has a bereavement policy, which allows last-minute purchases or changes to flight itineraries in case of family emergencies/deaths. JetBlue, which claims to be such a great airline with good customer service and friendly employees, apparently has no such policy. fn1.

The first person J1 spoke to was very sympathetic and said he would check with his supervisor to see if there was anything that they could do to help her out. Unfortunately, her phone dropped the call. When she called back, she got some cold woman who told her there was nothing they could do and that she was going to have to pay the fare difference.

First of all, having to bereavement policy is no way to run an airline, particularly one which claims to have quality customer service. Secondly, the second CSR could have at least tried to do something, even if she thought it was a long shot. But she clearly had no interest in providing a positive customer service experience.

So I have to get a big thumbs down to JetBlue. Time to find the soul that your ads claim you have.

2. J1 was scheduled to play piano for a recording composed and being sung by one of her classmates. They were supposed to rehearse on Friday and cut it in the studio on Tuesday. Obviously, the change of events made this impossible. J1 emailed her, informing her of the situation and offering the services of her roommate (also a skilled pianist and sight reader) for the recording.

This morning, the classmate called J1 and basically bitched her out for being unable to do the recording. It takes a special kind of person to make an event like a wedding or a funeral in which they have no part all about them. This girl is precisely this special kind of person. She was so concerned about how this might disrupt her schedule and how this might inconvenience her that she couldn't focus on J1's loss and the fact that this was COMPLETELY out of her control.

She actually said "People die at the most inconvenient times, huh?" It's one thing if you think that in your head -- it's still a jackass thing to think, but many of us would privately have the same thought. But to say it out loud, especially to the person who just suffered this loss, is beyond rude. There are just no words...

So the takeaway point from all this: be one of those people who makes these kinds of situations better, not worse.

1. Clearly I would not have fallen under the policy of any airline out there (as I was not related to the person who died), unless the airline was bending the rules. But at the very least, J1 should have been able to change her ticket without having to pay the fare difference.