Are you aggravating your credit union members?

by: Anthony Demangone

We just finished a conference last week. The conference went well. But not everything was perfect.

Let’s talk about the noise. The conference food services (kitchen, cleaning) seemed to be directly behind the conference room. The walls of typical conference centers are about as thick as a sheet of aluminum foil. So, when the staff even thinks about stacking plates or cleaning silverware, you hear it in the conference room.

When the racket began the first time, I envisioned the staff behind the wafer-thin wall playing a demented game of pin the tail on the donkey. But this version involved chucking silverware. I went back and gave them my “take it down a notch” look.  My glance worked some temporary magic. Unfortunately, 20 minutes later, pin the spoon on the donkey began anew.

Perhaps the hotel did a cost/benefit analysis to determine that the best place to clean dishes and silverware is 8 centimeters behind the conference space itself. I’m not sure I buy it. But let’s say they did. They could still do a much better job of soundproofing the area. They could time the cleaning much better. They could train staff much better.

But they don’t. And here’s the rub. Our conference brought more than 1,000 room nights to the hotel. Not to mention banquet dollars and more. And yet they don’t seem to worry about the situation all that much.

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