Real-Life Decision Making
The one thing that you knew for sure when you decided to become a food broker was that you would have to have great people skills. People, after all, are your job. From meeting with them to introduce your company or new products to discussing their needs and thoughts about the products that you provide, you spend a lot of time with your clients.
For the most part, you find the contact enjoyable. The variety makes for days that are always different.
Unfortunately, today is one of those days when you would prefer not to have to face people. More accurately, today is a day when you prefer not to have to face one particular person. She's a store manager, and she called your office before you even made it in because several cases of product that she ordered were spoiled when delivered.
However, this is one of those instances where you're not sure that the problem is yours to fix. It's possible that the spoilage was caused during shipping.
Either way, your customer is so mad that she refuses to listen to reason. She demands that you meet her to see the spoiled food for yourself. You agree, and now you must decide how to handle the situation.
You think the customer isn't going to be willing to hear anything other than that you will replace the products. And you're carrying replacements with you just in case.
The problem is, if the fault falls on the shipping company, you will not be reimbursed for replacing the products that went bad. On the other hand, the customer isn't interested in hearing whose fault it is. She needs her merchandise and if you don't replace it, she's likely to find another supplier.
What do you do?