Dear Jeneane
Jeneane,
I am with you in your disagreement with ICH. I blogged so and even went as far as stating I wouldn't stay at any of their hotels again.
I say that so you know where I stand when I say I completely disagree with your post entitled "Customer Service Reps--It's Your Ass on the Line Too."
First, I don't agree with the scattershot way you went after "Ted Dumont."
I have a common name, let's say it is Ted Dumont (it isn't), and I fight hard to keep it clean. When bloggers start using a shotgun approach such as yours it makes it difficult to separate the good Ted Dumonts from the bad.
Do you know for a fact that the music trader at the hotmail address is the Ted Dumont from ICH? If you do...say so. If you're not sure then don't bring down the music trader or the other guys with the same name.
Secondly, I don't agree with the belief that a person must always represent their employer outside the company.
Maybe the decision was Teds. Maybe he didn't believe a word of what he was told to write. Maybe it was a matter of "send it or you're fired." You seem like a good person Jeneane, but I wouldn't lose my job over you either.
I'd love to say I would only work at left-leaning, pro-environment, progressive companies with spotless records. But, as an unemployed father, I might just take a job with the Republican party to pay the bills and use my extra cash to undo the work of my company. Sometimes we're forced into such positions by circumstance.
You have a position that is envied by many, Jeneane. You get to live your life in the open. You have the talent that allows you to choose whose money you accept.
If you found out that one of your clients' employees was disrespectful to a customer would you drop that client? Do you believe that you are responsible for the customer relations of companies that you don't run?
In other words, must an employee be responsible for the actions of every other employee of a company?
Domoni
