When Delta Airlines canceled or delayed hundreds of flights over the holiday weekend, people took to its Twitter account to vent. One response from Delta went viral. It also shows what “emotional hijacking” looks like. When @ocarroll51 posted “Waiting for Daisy at @delta to make things right?!?! What is happening??? @delta??” Someone behind the airline keyboard for the airline’s account replied “Can you calm down and allow me some time to work please??”
“INC” magazine’s Justin Bariso breaks down how to keep a conversation like that from "going south". After the initial “oopsy” tweet, the Delta employee made things right by doing three things. Take note if you are in customer service. These steps are key:
- Reassuring the customer. They explained to the person exactly what they were doing to fix things
- Focusing on the task at hand. Instead of letting stress and negative emotions bog you down, focus on the task in front of you.
- Apologize.
In the end, Daisy from Delta got it right. Her last tweet to the poster was “Apologies for the tone of that reply. We are glad we could help you and thanks for flying Delta.” The flyers shared “Thank you Daisy! You worked your magic and made things happen! Thank you!”
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