# Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar



## Mule (Oct 22, 2009)

This was an email I received fro Mike Holt's web site. Really an inspiration.

http://deepsm25.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/ducks-quack-eagles-soar/

Wording from the link..........

“No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice.”

Years ago, my friend, Harvey Mackay, told me a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: “I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said:

Wally’s Mission Statement:

“To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.”

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.”

My friend said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.”

Wally smiled and said, “No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.”

Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card.

“These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rearview mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the  personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.

He had just written a book called “You’ll See It When You Believe It”. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself.

He said, “Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”

“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.

The above is based on a true story. This cabbie is based out of NY City. And I personally and truly love such customer service.

Give it a thought, how true it is. How many times we just start our day by complaining; – “Oh No! It’s a Monday.” And then go feeling miserable the entire day.

How many times, have we got up in the morning, felt the excitement within and exclaimed “This is going to be the BEST day of my life”. Now even if after saying that you seem to not have a good day then turn around and do say and feel “This too shall pass”.

At the end of the day, go to bed content that you know and feel right from the bottom of your heart that you have done the best you could. At the end of it, you will be the one who would have changed your own life forever.


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## jpranch (Oct 22, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Thanks Mule, good stuff. JP


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## fatboy (Oct 25, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Ditto........


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## Gene Boecker (Oct 25, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Excellent, Mule!

It's been awhile since I recall hearing the whole story.

(Are turkeys closer to ducks or eagles???)


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## RJJ (Oct 26, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Ditto the above! I think on the eagle quite often, especially after a long day with the public. It is so easy to fall down with the ducks. We quite often forget that as inspectors and code officials we are public servants.

As far as the personal growth guru, I would not put a great deal of stock in his opinion. What he professes is not new. Christ used a similar response when HE stated; "What you do unto the least of them you do unto me." These truths have been out there for a while!


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##  (Oct 26, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Although this is away from the subject at hand I have found that a compliment from an inspector has amazing power.  I try to find some compliment for the homeowner or contractor.  For example; I inspected a homeowner's best effort at an el. service upgrade and there were many corrections, too many.  Before I left I complimented him on the great job he had done with the yard.  The yard was spotless and had manicured bushes.  Well several months later he called for re-inspection and in trying to refresh my memory of the job he mentioned that I really liked his yard.  I knew right away which job it was and thought to myself that the man appreciated that I acknowledged his effort in creating a nice yard.

A well placed compliment puts most people in a situation where they find it difficult to get angry about a tough correction.

During the course of inspecting a new pool I observed a man a few house away building a split-face CMU fence wall.  He was always working alone and he built 100' of wall in about 4 days.  The wall was plumb, straight, looked great and there was little mess.  I approached the man and found out his name was Jesus Avila.  Jesus spoke no English and I could tell he was scared.  I wrote on the back of a County business card "Jesus Avila builds a fine wall and he is fast" and signed it.  I wonder what became of Jesus Avila.


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## peach (Oct 27, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Hi Tiger...

ICE probably got him..

It's a great story, and a great inspiration for us to think more about what it is that we do.

My husband has a great philosophy.. he plays all day and gets paid for it.. isn't that's what a job ought to be?

I can't say I play all day.. but I have a job that I love (even though I feel like a ping pong ball sometimes).. I look forward to the beginning of the day.. the lack of traffic when I drive in... even the rude drivers down town when I do an 11 am inspection in Georgetown and it takes me 40 minutes to go the 6 miles to get there.  I value and appreciate my customers!

And, oh, by the way.. I've been getting a bunch of referral calls.. life is good.


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##  (Oct 27, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Peach wrote: ICE probably got him..

That was funny!


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## Alias (Nov 4, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Thanks for the reminder to look at the better side of a situation.  Too often I find myself only seeing the negative side of something.

I had an out of town contractor compliment and thank me for being 'professional and nice to work with' a couple of weeks ago.  He was from the big city of Redding.  I was a little taken aback but accepted graciously.  It sure made my week.

Sue


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## beach (Nov 4, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

Thank you, that story has just been cut, pasted, and e-mailed out to all my friends and collegues   A truly inspirational tale.


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## 88twin (Nov 4, 2009)

Re: Ducks Quack and Eagles Soar

If you can find a copy ..an insperational read, great way to approch my "playtime" is

 "The Fred Factor". I don't have the book here in the office so i can't tell you the author.

 really should keep it with me to turn to when i'm feeling  pressed


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