TURNING SUPPLY INTO CUSTOMER SERVICE

Here's several personal notes followed by some Supply specific comments.

I was able to watch last night's ABC and NBC news this morning. It's funny to see them both on the same station, one after another. The military is allowed to basically rebroadcast anything as long as it doesn't provide paid advertising. Instead we get military advertising. It's not too bad a trade-off.

I guess even in Iraq we are not immune to April Fools jokes, with the Skipper pulling a fast one. We always have staff call at 0730 each morning with the Company Commanders and Department Heads, like myself. At 0730 sharp, the Master Chief yells, "Attention on Deck" and we all pop to attention until the Skipper walks in and says, "Seats" (then we sit). Well, on the 1st, he swapped roles with one of the Chiefs who looks kind of like him (similar height, complexion, both with shaved heads). He even gave him his reading glasses and shoulder holster to wear, et voila, instant skipper. It was very funny. The Chief ran the show like the skipper but he's not as humorous as our real Skipper. When the real Skipper had something to say, he'd suggest answers to the pretend skipper to say. We also recently received some Iraqi interpreters and the Intel officer pretended he had confiscated some illegal contraband from them. It was a fake magazine with one of our officer's picture on it and titles of articles to be found within the magazine. It was also very funny.

After the meeting, we frocked a new Chief. It means he gets to wear to rank but not get the pay until his date of promotion is permanent (in a few weeks). It's a big thing to make Chief and he was definitely made welcome by his fellow Chiefs. I'm sure they'll have a party in his honor but without alcohol.

They just installed air conditioning in my room and none too soon, I might add. It's starting to warm up. I can't imagine when it hits 120 degrees +.

It's the weekend coming up but it's just another work day for us. I received a care package from my brother and sister in-law from Calgary yesterday with all the Canadian foods you can't get here or even back in the US. For example, pure Canadian maple syrup, Aero chocolate bars, and Dad's Oatmeal cookies. Most of my US friends have no idea (other than the syrup) of these unique Canadian foods but they are good. I'm also getting several Passover packages as it's that time of year. I'll have more than enough matzo to eat for the next week.

As we get settled into our daily routine, I see areas for improvement within our department. I've observed our Supply folks now for several weeks and everyone of them is a hard worker. They are learning their jobs well and I can't say enough about their dedication. However, they are mainly technicians, concerned more about accountability and less about the value of customer service. We aren't profit driven like commercial business; it's just a matter of going that extra step to serve the customer. I am trying to get them to realize that you can have accountability while providing customer service. So I started with a Mission Statement that reads: TO PROVIDE EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE WHILE ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY. We had an interesting experience that reflects my plan to get them thinking more about customer service. Our chaplain came into the office, stating that two of his chairs were non-functional because the castors were broken. All my customer service rep heard was 'broken castors' and handed the chaplain a catalog for office parts, asking him to find the replacement parts. I heard about this from the chaplain afterwards. He wasn't upset, he just was letting me know. I went back to the office and found out that we had two fully functional chairs in inventory. I not only gave the Chaplain 2 new chairs but had a CSR bring them to his office. At the end of our day, I had all the Supply folks gather around for pass down and using this as an example (no names used), asked them what they thought the chaplain really needed when he said he had broken castors. I think one person got it; that he simply wanted working chairs. I also mentioned that while ordering castors is technically the right answer or perhaps one of several answers, there were other possible solutions inside and outside of Supply. Ordering the castors, by the way, would have taken another 3-4 weeks to receive. I suggested finding extra chairs that another office might have, or to look on our shelves to see what we have in inventory. I also suggested that if they had to buy from the catalog, not to simply hand it to the customer. Instead, they should help the customer find the item, especially when it's a chaplain. I have lots of work to do in this area and will keep bringing up tips and suggestions to improve our customer service. In the meantime, I'll have our Mission Statement prominently displayed in all of our workspaces and in the customer service area so as to let the customer know what we are about and to remind the Supply personnel that the customer is as important as maintaining accountability of our inventory. Well, enough about the business.

That's about it for now. I hope everyone has a nice weekend.