This post has really nothing to directly do with Dentistry, but about an experience I had that I wanted to share…. Something that taught me a lot about how to handle problems in a better way.

I was reminded about this story yesterday when one of my close friends had a terrible experience with an airline losing all their bags on Spring Break…

As some of you know, I'm quite an avid golfer. I truly enjoy traveling around anywhere where golf is good and to experience amazing courses. Last year in August, I went for a week to Pinehurst, NC. Upon getting home and waiting for my clubs at baggage, this is what I saw:

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As you can image… I was quite shocked and upset (they were dragged across the Tarmac btw). My initial response was to get angry and yell at the baggage people. However, I thought about all the videos that we have seen about people screaming at airport employees and rethought that strategy. It wasn't their fault and me yelling was just going to slow down the process.

I went home, called Delta, filled out the forms, etc… and they said it would take up to 30 days to process the claim of damage.

The next morning on the way to work, I was talking to a friend who works for a pretty large company and telling him about the experience. He told me to post it on Social Media and tag them. If you just call they will push you down the list. If you make a kind "plea" on Twitter specifically, you will get a response in seconds. They value their image a lot and have teams of people that monitor this and respond.

I wasn't quite sure this was going to work, so I posted this on Twitter:

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Immediately (30 sec) I got a response (probably automated from the tag):

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And by 1pm or so (in just 4 hours), they had transferred $3800 to my bank account with an apology.

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So instead of 30 days, it took 4 hours…

The moral of this story to me was that we do have to be aware that social media matters. I'm not talking about dentist arguing with other dentists about a case… I'm talking about our online image with our patients. If we get a poor review or complaint, take it seriously. If the patient is mean, be nice and try and take care of it promptly and again be nice. I think our instinct is to be defensive because we think we are in the right (and you might be)…. but in these cases, emotions can run high and it's better to remain calm.

Mike