the    sides

I order some software from Apple and they shipped it with DHL. It’s hard for me to say anything negative about Apple in general because they are so awesome. But this is one of those times.

I’ve been tracking the package via DHL’s online tracking system. It hit Topeka today and I was trying to work out with the courier a time to meet them since our office is closed. Here’s where the trouble began. I entered my tracking number and the package was gone. Not gone as in – we’ve already delivered it – but gone as in – it doesn’t exist.

I call. They only do international shipments, not domestic. The domestic service doesn’t take phone calls, only emails. The international only takes phone calls. Think about this for a moment and you will see the ridiculousness of this policy.

The email ’service’ will respond within 24 hours.

That is so helpful. NOT.

So I get online to use the helpful chat service. They can’t find the package. Doesn’t exist. It does, I’m looking at the screen right now, how can you not see it? Let me send you the email with the screen shot AND the email I have from Apple. They can’t take email or phone calls – just the chat.

Then they ask if I would take a customer service survey. And I took said survey. They didn’t have numbers low enough.It just angers me deeply. I need help. I need their help, have paid for their help and then they act like it’s my fault that I’m not getting the help I need.

I thought about the church and this situation as well. How many times has that same mentality been communicated? A guest walks in not knowing where to go, where to take the kids, where to sit, where to get coffee and 15 people pass them before offering to help, offering to walk with them. Churches so set in their system of doing things, they now exist to serve themselves instead of the ‘customer.’

Last night, Stephen and I changed up the seating in our worship center/auditorium/theater/coffee shop place. We did it at first to be a bit more creative in our series but then as I walked around I realized our guests are probably going to like the new set up better than the old. Not because it’s different but because it’s more cozy, less formal, less threatening. It feels more akin to a theater in the round than just straight rows of chairs. I started thinking of the places I sit in straight rows of chairs…funeral homes, weddings, school board meetings…I’m sensing a pattern, here.

So the next time I meet a new church goer…I’m going to be the ANTI-DHL.