On board. The first 30 seconds after the door opens.
The moment someone walks through the door, whether a guest, a patient or a customer, most of us have already formed an opinion.
I remember a guest who boarded a flight barely making eye contact. No smile. No response to the greeting. Head down. Sat down hard.
A crew member leaned over to me: "Difficult passenger."
I shook my head. "Hurting person."
By cruising altitude, she had told us she was flying to see her mother for the last time.
This does not only happen at 35,000 feet. It happens at a hotel front desk. In a hospital corridor. At a restaurant table. In a retail store. Anywhere a human being is standing in front of another.
The person who seems cold may be exhausted. The one who seems rude may be terrified. The one who seems distant may be grieving.
We chose empathy before we had the full story. That is not naive. That is professional.
The way we see the people in front of us shapes everything about how we serve them.
