You can read part one of the interview here and part two here. To read this part, click “read more.”

Service Untitled: Interesting. Do you have something equivalent to personal service level stats or email employees or live chat since it’s kind of a different way to track it than phones?
Rob: I mean we’re mostly looking at their production of how many emails they’re responding to over a course of an extended period of time. We don’t look at it as like today they only did this many but this day, they did that many because some days you just get a mix of emails that are very different. But they have to have an expectation of doing on average, a certain number of emails an hour. And we have some people that are just very prolific with doing emails and others that are not but there is an expectation and they have to meet it.

Service Untitled: And something similar for chat probably?
Rob: Yeah. Chat is more like the phone. Now it’s easier with the phones because the phones that are on the hardware have specific statuses that you utilize to do all of the measurements. And so it’s slightly different for live chat but it’s basic in terms of the way we monitor it. But it’s roughly the same thing. We’re looking at production and we’re looking at people’s efficient use of time and making sure they’re customer–facing. And I think that’s the key thing for us is that people are customer–facing. It’s not necessarily how much time they’re spending there per interaction. Well some person may take ten calls an hour, another person may take six but they’re both on the phone the same amount of time and that may just be the average of how it works out because some people are just a little chattier than others and that’s fine. And it’s the same thing with live chat. There’s subtle differences in individuals.

Service Untitled: So empowerment is obviously critical to customer service. How do you empower customer loyalty to your members?
Rob: I mean that’s pretty easy. We don’t restrict their decision making. If they have something that they need to get to done for a customer, they don’t have hoops to jump through to make a decision. They make the decision and if there’s something they need help with, we’ll provide them help but we’re not going to stop them from making the decision and we want to make sure that people feel comfortable making the decisions without second–guessing themselves. Do what’s in the best interest of the customer. You know if you do something and you’re unsure about it but you wanted to take care of the customer, maybe talk it over with your team lead afterwards but don’t slow down the process of providing the best service you can to the customer. So I mean we don’t have like a bunch of system restrictions that they can’t do x you know. They can’t upgrade the shipping or they can’t upgrade the customer into a VIP or the can’t refund the customer for something that was a service issue or they – they can do whatever they need to. They can make whatever request they need for UPS to get a package delivered to a different address or have something picked up from a house. I mean every type of situation where we could possibly be interacting with the customer, we take the barriers away from them being able to do their job and provide as much of a trusting environment as possible.

Service Untitled: So by doing that, have you guys kind of avoided the bureaucracy that tends to occur if companies get bigger?
Rob: I mean yeah I would say so. I mean when you put a bunch of people together, there’s always going to be a little bit of people stuff you know with just relationships and stuff but I mean in general, it’s such a flat organization in terms of the way we interact with each other. And we’re not control freaks you know.

I’ve always thought about it this way. If you don’t trust your employees, then you’re not hiring the right people. And so we have to trust them. We have to put that in their hand and we want to you know – I go more on the whole thing of you know trust someone until they proved themselves that they can’t be trusted and then just to put them in an environment where you immediately, it restrict them from being themselves. So we just work in a different way I guess.

Service Untitled: How does Zappos handle escalations to managers? If someone calls up and they’re really angry and they demand to talk to a manager, how do you guys handle that? Is it like every other call handles it or do you do it differently?
Rob: I don’t know how other call centers handle it really. I mean it depends. The first thing that we would want to do is first find out before you transfer it to the managers, well who the person is and what their issue is so that you can – you might be able to resolve it and they don’t know that. I would be really interested in knowing the data on this but sometimes we have people who call and demand a manager or supervisor because they don’t think that the person they’re going to get on the phone can help them. You know their experience I guess in other places is that what they want can’t be done by the first person that answers the phone. It’s different here so sometimes it happens when someone demands a manager or supervisor, they quickly find out, “Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought.” Some are escalated and sometimes it’s our own fault and so if they really want to speak with a manager, we’ll absolutely get them on the phone with the supervisor or manager as quickly as we can and have it resolved. I guess I kind of don’t know what else there would be to say about that one. I mean what do other call centers do that make it – do they make it complicated? I don’t know.

Service Untitled: Some call centers work pretty hard to escalate calls
Rob: Then what does the manager do? I mean that’s one of your functions of your job.

Service Untitled: Exactly.
Rob: The thing is we’re all accessible. Our CEO’s email is readily available. We all have the same mission. We’re here to provide the best possible customer experience and if they need to speak with somebody who they believe is more relevant to their problem, then we owe them that.

Service Untitled: I think that’s fair. So how do you compensate employees for going above and beyond? Obviously people want to be happy at work but they also have bills to pay and extra money helps that. What are some things that agents can do to earn additional money?
Rob: Well I touched on it earlier. The only program we have in place for earning more money in our department is by learning new skills and pursuing different opportunities that we constantly are promoting to be available for them. And we have rotations so that these skill set jobs is never stagnant, it’s never the same group constantly. There may be slower periods of churn within those groups as we have people learn those skills but there’s plenty of opportunity for them to go out and earn more pay and we do our very best to promote those opportunities and coach new employees when they get in so that they can be able to take advantage of those opportunities and learn those skills and then also as a side benefit, you get further training, more skills, and you also get paid more.

So that’s how we do it. And this is kind of around the company like we don’t have like a bonus program. We don’t have you know, at least in the call center, we don’t have like sales goals or you know stuff like that. We don’t have commissions or anything like that. We looked at other things, but I would rather discuss what we have than things that we don’t have.

Service Untitled: That makes sense. So what are some of the training opportunities like? Is one, for example, learn how to do email support? Learn how to do live chat? Or is that smaller than that or bigger than that?
Rob: It’s both. It’s all of the above. It could be smaller than that. Email and live chat are two of them. And each one depending on the length of the rotation and the skills required and the difficulty of the job are paid differently. So some are a little bit more difficult and you get paid more for learning that skill and excelling at it. So it varies from team to team.

We have like mentoring which is when new employees come in and they go to their four–week new hire training process. They come in to the call center and they sit with employees and listen to phone calls, and they have a mentor who helps them out, who takes the calls and then talks about it and gives them a little training. So that’s another one – it’s kind of a very soft skill, people–to–people training thing that they do not very frequently. It’s fairly infrequently so that’s a pretty popular one for people when they’re brand new. They want to pass on learning.

And we have an ambassador program. It’s another one which is pretty popular because it’s interacting with new employees. It’s kind of like a big brother–big sister kind of a thing. New employees get assigned to a veteran employee and they give them tours of the office to introduce them to more people in the call center and they help them with the studying for some of the test and quizzes that they go through when they’re new employees, and help just kind of talking them through questions that maybe they might have been nervous to ask someone else or whatever may be the case. But just to introduce a new friend and a new connection in the call center. So that’s another one.

And then they just run all over in little areas. And you know for the most part, the concentration of these different skills and functions obviously are built around business needs of what we’re trying to do to accomplish with our customers and to provide them the best service. And that changes too over time. So we’ve had new ones. Like right now we have, our live chat one has been a hugely popular skill set to learn recently. We have almost 70 people on the team and two years ago, we didn’t have a full time team. So it’s created a huge amount of opportunity for people to learn something new and that team so far has no signs of stopping growing. So it’s going to be growing at the same time people are rotating through and learning it. So it will end up being able to provide a lot of experiences for people. And who knows what the next one will be.

Service Untitled: So if I was a phone person and I got live chat training, I can do live chat for maybe a month or two and then go back to phones? Or you want to stay in live chat or whatever I want to do?
Rob: You would stay in live chat for longer than that. The minimum rotation for a team like live chat would be roughly four months and it usually would be a little longer – especially when we’re growing a team like that, we can’t rotate people out as quickly because if we rotate people out and say, “This is the day you have to rotate out,” we may not yet have somebody who’s ready to take over. And so it’s a balancing act of all of that movement because we have to have a specific number of people working the job to meet customer demand. We don’t want rotations to mess up the customer demands part.

So it’s kind of an art and science at the same time of that piece. And it’s different for a growing team. Like for other groups, we have a team that handles all of the customers that call through on the mobile phone number so they’re on a mobile app and they call a phone number that gets routed to people that have specialized training and handling confusion on the mobile app or whatever may be the case that the customer is calling about. It could be about a shirt. But that team is very small. And so if we were doing something on that team, we would probably hire a new person in, make sure they have the training and then one person, when the person that was rotating off would rotate off afterwards. So that’s an example of how it would work there. For the live chat team, it would be a little different than that.

Service Untitled: And so if someone does something like mentoring, does that result in an hourly pay boost or is that a one–time bonus after it’s completed? How does that work?
Rob: The whole skill set progression program is all an hourly pay increase so they all have whether it be from 25 cents on up to 75 cents maybe for certain skill sets that they could earn an hour, a per hour pay increase. And now, one of the things that goes with that is they could be asked at any time to actually come back and do the job in a time of need and they will be asked to share knowledge and answer questions and be a further presence of sharing that information wherever they go after that. So they’re an advocate for that skill set wherever they go, and they can use that in many different ways, and we find that very valuable to mix the workforce like that. It shares a lot of knowledge and it helps people provide better service experiences by continuing to circulate that knowledge and information.

Service Untitled: And it also makes itself, if someone is out sick on live chat, you can take someone who knows about it that might be on the phones and help out.
Rob: Absolutely. If we need to do that, we absolutely will do that. And they’d be happy to do it. They know that and they would love to help out. It’s great to be able to have that option available.

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Online sales from mobile devices continue to increase as applications scan, share favorites, share technical advice, and create consumer buzz about new products and special promotions. We  use our smartphones to read bar codes, read blogs and join in on Twitter and Facebook. It was only a matter of time before retailers were able to provide customer service giving consumers a more direct route to resolve problems than either visiting the brick and mortar establishment, on the phone, or in front of the computer.

The advent of the branded icons gives retailers a great opportunity to deliver personalized service, however businesses must be careful not to slip away from the traditional care service when customers insist on finding a real person. No doubt the application far surpasses the call menu and the maze of service representatives consumers have to dance around when trying to resolve a complaint, but customers have to know that they are still able to communicate with an agent for a specific task when needed. It’s a company’s duty to have a cohesive and efficient team who are properly trained when an unresolved issue presents.

Organizations now have the opportunity to present highly personalized information and keep track of a customer’s spending history as well as their preferences. I was recently amazed when I signed up for a shopping application for shoes. I entered my preferences, size, and price range, and within moments the app was operational. The first pair of shoes I ordered were not comfortable at all, but when I tried to return them the company’s return process didn’t work, and there was no credit given to me for the return. I was finally able to resolve the problem, but it took a human to help, however the positive reaction toward  customer service will most likely have me purchasing another pair of shoes from the same company.

photo credit: Symic

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Typically an unhappy customer who perceives that attitude of indifference will tell eight to ten of their friends, coworkers or family members about their bad experiences, and one in five people will tell 20 others. As the story spreads, it can become similar to the kitten over-breeding-epidemic – way out of control.

So what are some of the more obvious signs of poor customer service that silently drive customers away?  Here are a few observations:

• There are no employees at the store’s front service desk.
• Floor personnel are talking on their cell phones.
• Managers ignore customers.
• No direct eye-contact with personnel and customers.
• Employees who are not familiar with the entire store – only one department.
• Rude employees.
• The attitude of indifference as perceived by a customer.

All is not lost however, since seven out of ten customers will continue to do business with an organization if their complaint is resolved, and 95 percent of consumers will be even happier if the problem is resolved immediately. While statistics also show that the average business spends six times more money to attract new customers and clients, loyalty from the current customers is also very important. Business comes from all over, and a growing client base is what grows a business.

As business owners do we necessarily recognize the signs of bad customer service? The answers actually depend on the owner or managers who first must demonstrate their interest in providing the best experience for every customer or client who interacts with their organizations. The CEO and upper management have to like what they do, because that attitude directly reflects on every employee and customer alike.

For some specific suggestions as to how to keep customers from walking out the door never to return – develop a rapport, call them by name, show that you are genuinely interested in their lives and how your organization can make a positive difference. And when a problem does occur, don’t read into it as the day the world fell apart. Instead step back for a moment and consider the viewpoint of the unhappy customer. Be reliable and credible, apologize when mess-ups occur, and resolve the conflict.

Exceptional customer service where representatives step way out of the box as they do in such luxury organizations as the Ritz Carlton or Mercedes Benz invite all businesses to take a few hints. Of course these organizations have huge budgets to spread the word, however companies like Zappos, Nordstrom, and even Amazon worked their way up the customer satisfaction ladder by careful training, attitude and that all inspiring will to please.

As someone with an infinite knowledge of pleasing customers and resolving conflicts the moment a problem is brought to his attention, his advice still rings in my mind – “you always want to dance with your clients.”

photo credit: Debs (ò‿ó)♪

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Click “Continue Reading” to see the questions and answers.

Service Untitled: So tell me about your role and what you do at Zappos.
Rob: I am the director of the Zappos Customer Loyalty Team. So that’s our contact center here in Henderson, Nevada. And I started in the company as a temp worker in 2004. It was one of my first jobs out of college actually and I started answering phone calls for the call center so that’s where my history with Zappos started. I’ve been in the call center the whole time I’ve been here which and it’s almost eight years now. On a day–to–day bias, it could be all sorts of things but you know just making sure that the call center is prepared for all different seasons for all of our contacts for your customers and making sure we have all the proper training and development for our employees and that we’re hiring properly, and just treating our customers and our employees as best as possible and helping develop and strengthen and promote our culture is definitely a big part of it. And yeah, it could be a million different little things but the main things are making sure our teams are prepared to help drive and improve our culture and then be able to provide the best possible customer experience. Those are the two big things that we focus on and that I help with.

Service Untitled: Great. So you guys are open 24/7 right?
Rob: Yes. All of our contact channels have people working on them 24/7.

Service Untitled: Okay. How do you handle 24/7 when it comes to scheduling and training and communication and things like that?
Rob: Well it’s really not – there’s nothing perfect about communication, training, or anything in any company probably. You can do it really well and you always are trying to get better and I think that’s kind of where we fall. We’re always trying to improve. But the 24–hour thing, the scheduling is handled 24/7 the same way it is at any point in the day. It’s all about contact volume. So in terms of the basic scheduling of folks because you know how many people you need to be able to meet our service level goals whether it be one in the morning or one in the afternoon. So the staffing model is the same.

We have some different shifts that work anywhere, you know start from noon to 9, 1 to 10, and these are the afternoon to evening hours and then 3 to midnight is the last non–graveyard shift. And then traditional graveyard shift is, we have folks that start at 7 and then others that start at 8:30. And so we consider that to be the graveyard of those folks that work past the midnight hour. And it’s still a fairly small group actually. It’s not a huge group of people that worked the traditional graveyard hours. And communication is, we do it in all sorts of different ways which is what we do for the folks during the day. And then we just make sure that the leadership team makes an effort to engage and interact with them. So we come in and hang out with them and do our best to have them, have that connection and that communication there.

The training, some training happens at night. Some happens during the day. We have a program that we call the Day Tripper Program and so folks from the graveyard will actually come in and spend some days during the actual daylight hours and get some extra training and extra experiences in the call center that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to experience on their graveyard shift. And we do vice versa. We also have a program for people from the daytime to spend time with the graveyard shift and kind of better understand what they do there.

Service Untitled: Is there different leadership and supervision also on the graveyard shift? Or is it the graveyard team run by themselves and report back to the people on the day shift?
Rob: It’s kind of a combination of both because we have team leads which is kind of our first line of leadership. They have teams of anywhere between 12 to 14 folks on average around the call center. And our graveyard it’s about 20 folks. And we have two team leads for the graveyard shift and they work that shift. That’s their shift. So they’re working overnight with that team full time, and those team leads have the supervisor who works late in the day, in the evening, and has other teams that are working up until midnight or 10:00 or 9:00. They have plenty of time to hang out. And then the manager that oversees that has other areas in the call center that they’re responsible for but then they have their piece and making sure that they stay connected with the team. So we do special events to have all of us go hang out with them and spend time with the graveyard. We do special team building events for them where we can all get together and hang out. So they’re pretty well–connected I would say for not working during the day.

Service Untitled: That’s very neat. When new employees start, what does the training process look like?
Rob: We developed our training process over years. We didn’t say we’re going to have this and we just started it this way. It certainly was very basic in the beginning. But right now we have four weeks of new hire training. And the new hire training is not specific to the call center employees. The new hire training process happens for everyone that’s hired in our office this year in Henderson. And so whether you’re hired as a buyer or an accountant or a software engineer, whatever it is, you go through this new hire training process. Its four weeks long, mandatory. And this class is mixed. It’s not just call center employees and other – And another group that stays in another classroom that are non–customer loyalty team members. It’s all mixed together so the class could be 20 folks that are coming to the call center and 30 folks that are going to various departments around the company. That would be a large class but just as an example. So that four weeks incorporates the call center training so everyone learns how to answer the phone, everyone talks to customers.

There’s a lot of cultural training so they understand their core values, who we want to be. There’s talk of history. They get introductions from a lot of the different leaders in the company so they meet the people that can be good contacts and points of reference for them around the organization, and then they also get a better understanding of what each department really does on a daily basis. So they go through that four weeks and then everyone that’s not in the customer loyalty team goes back to their job except for during the holidays when everybody contributes time on the phone. So that’s another side benefit for us as when we have peak season is those folks come back on the phones and help out with our customers.

And then after that four weeks, the employees that are going to the call center come in to the Customer Loyalty Team, we have three weeks of uh, we call it incubation but it’s basically kind of a more intensive on–the–job, hands–on call center training where they’re listening to, they’re getting more feedback on their phone calls. They’re taking more phone calls so they’re getting more and more practice and getting more used to doing that full time. They get a lot of feedback and they get extra training in kind of the finer details of call center stuff that we do that isn’t built in to the original four–week new hire process. So they do that and from day one to the end of training is really a seven–week process for our call center employees.

Service Untitled: Before the marketing guys get on the phone in December, do they get a refresher course or additional training? Is there a disconnect obviously between someone who does calls all day long versus someone who haven’t taken a call in six months?
Rob: You hit it right on the head. We actually have refresher courses which is exactly what we call them. So that’s what we do. It’s a few hours long. It just gives people the opportunity to kind of see what’s changed, what’s been going on in the call center. Most of the changes are pretty basic. The biggest thing is there are folks that haven’t been on the phones very often. They get nervous about it and really, that’s the hardest part I think for people is just the nerves. You know the biggest departments besides CLT in Las Vegas here is our merchandising team. They know product very well, so for them, that part of the job is not difficult. There’s some technical things that they may have to do that they’re not as familiar with but they’re prepared for it. They get refreshers. And during the holidays, it’s such a busy time of year, so many of the calls are you know, they’re fun, even more fun just because people are usually in a good mood for the most part and a lot of new orders. So not necessarily as complex of a mix as an employee is going to take at a different time of year. So during this time, we’re in its peak in terms of our volume, but it’s not quite as difficult as it would be post–holidays with returns and exchanges.

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Spokesperson for the company, Lisa Hawks blamed the glitches on their software supplier, Oracle which presumably can forecast demand and plan the coordinating inventory, but stated the problem was under control and wouldn’t happen again.

The debacle began on Black Friday when customers ordered products both in the store and online, and all items selected stated “available and ready for shipping.” It wasn’t until weeks later that customers found out their orders were going to be delayed, were “no longer available” or the order had been “canceled.” And all of this bad news just before Christmas just didn’t make for a positive shopping experience. Sonya was notified two weeks after Christmas that her gift product was canceled, but when she called the manufacturer they claimed the products were still being made.

Before Thanksgiving, Sonya loved to visit the store in Palm Beach Gardens. It was a great place to browse, and there was a good selection of televisions, cameras and other techno products – all priced reasonably. The staff in each department were quite helpful, however each staff member seemed to have their own specialty which made getting knowledgeable assistance a corundum at peak shopping hours.

On the Customer Service Scoreboard, there were 300 negative comments out of 336 (89.2%) while positive comments numbered 36 out of 336 (10.71%). What happened? After all Best Buy was supposed to be a positive alternative to online companies like Amazon; it was a place where many consumers who like to touch and feel the products, try them out, and bring them home could fulfill their shopping needs.

Now Best Buy will have to regain the confidence of shoppers, and stop making excuses. According to Sonya it was all about the lack of communication and not so much about the products. “Had I known in time I could have ordered the games and other gifts from another store – namely Amazon. It was impossible to deal with Best Buy’s customer service. I have never heard so many, ‘ I have no further information as to when the product you ordered will be available.’ ” And that seemed to be a large part of the problem.

So what do you do when you want to “infiltrate” customer service and actually find someone to help you? First you need to get past the automated systems which are intended to weed out the most obvious issues. Listen to all of the options first, and select ” for other questions” or even “tech support.” You’re pretty much guaranteed you will connect to a real person who can then forward you on to a customer service agent. Don’t lose your temper, don’t get profane, and keep your story short and precise. Use notes so you don’t forget anything, and if possible record the entire conversation to ensure that the agent you speak with doesn’t change their story at a future time. Make sure you get the agent’s name and a ticket number – at least then you know you are officially in the system.

When a customer service agent isn’t getting the results you want, ask for a supervisor, and if that still doesn’t solve your problem, it’s time to head over to the executive offices of that particular organization. A favorite place to look for the names of executive customer service representatives is Consumerist.com. Have patience, and don’t give up. Best Buy is handing out gift cards to many of their disappointed customers. For those customers like Sonya, make sure you get one – it will make you feel better.

photo credit: matteson.norman

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Last week my Mercedes had been making a strange noise – the kind of noise one just can’t turn the radio up louder to ignore; I thought it might be serious. I arrived at the dealership in North Palm Beach and was promptly greeted and led into a waiting area. I waited and waited – lots of  employees going back and forth and in and out, but no one stopped to speak with me. When I saw the original “meet and greet” employee I told him no one had helped me yet, and I was becoming impatient. He told me that everyone was very busy and to continue to wait.

And now in the century of the I phone and with no patience for poor customer service, I called another  Mercedes dealership and asked if I could bring my car in for a diagnosis of its problem. The receptionist Stacy asked me where I lived and told me I could bring my car to them, but the dealership in my area was much closer. I told her that was where I was calling from, and how I had been told to wait in a wide-open lobby and no one had yet to even wave to me. I told her my name, and she promised to get back to me in a few minutes.

And that is exactly what Stacy did. Not only did she remember my name, she called me right back and said a representative would be with me shortly. After that, the service was exemplary – and not only was my car repaired, I was given a Mercedes loaner, and from that moment on my customer service needs were handled as if my father owned the company.

Customers remember good service and good products, but it’s that first point of contact where someone is welcoming and friendly and promptly attends to their clients that define a reputation and future business. That first impression doesn’t just happen by luck or chance, so preparing all the participants with their own customized training skills may require more than letting one of the other employees show someone “around.” In order for employees to be on the top of their job, managers need to provide training courses with “how to” manage different situations, read body language, step out of their “box” to take extra steps to help someone, and learn how to effectively manage unhappy people and difficult situations.

The next day when I returned the loaner car and was ready to pick up my own car, the welcoming staff could not have been more helpful, friendly and engaging. I forgive you Mercedes-Benz – you handled the problem well.

photo credit: CLF

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Now less than ten years later all of this has changed. Insurance companies flood television commercials with proposals for the best services one can imagine. Amid the promises of the lowest cost policies, companies now have new ways to win you over. Progressive Insurance Companies promise you customized quotes and immediate personal service. Who doesn’t identify with Flo, the loveable and helpful cashier with the tricked-out name tag? Who doesn’t recognize the reptilian mascot with the Cockney accent for GEICO?

Still when it comes to customer service and brand recognition, Allstate might be onto a better way. No fancy gimmicks in their advertisements, but instead the company has been swaying customers with such programs as accident forgiveness, reward programs, and safe driving bonuses. Last week Allstate announced their new Claim Satisfaction Guarantee which promises its customers to be satisfied with their auto claim service or they will get a credit to their auto policy. This new feature which makes eligible customers who are not happy for any reason with the service they receive a finite opportunity to receive an actual credit on their auto policy.

Allstate’s new program actually lays a pretty big responsibility on the company because the satisfaction promises stretch from the agent, to the adjusters, to the claims representatives and to the very people who are entrusted to repair a client’s car Allstate, however states the repairs must be done through an Allstate Good Hands Repair Network or Sterling Auto Body Center. Still the network shows the company’s trust in the people they deal with thus helping to build trust with their customers.

And when once upon a time we could only call our insurance agent during business hours, Allstate as well as other insurance companies now have 24/7 service in case of a problem. Ten years ago, clients had to wait until Monday morning to report a collision that happened on Friday night – now there’s immediate help and advice.

Allstate tested their new program last year in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Georgia and hopes to extend opportunities to even more areas in the near future.

photo credit: David E. Starr

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It seems that Continental customer service had some holiday magic this year. A four-month-old puppy named Whopper was scheduled to fly to Spain to meet his family, but he got stranded. It seems his owner didn’t have the health certificates with Whopper signed by a veterinarian to allow the canine bundle of cuteness to board his flight. Equally as tragic, little Whopper wouldn’t be able to be placed in a shelter or a pet hotel without proof that he had all of his shots. What is an adorable puppy with limited veterinarian records to do? Who would care for him? Where would he stay?

Yes, you guessed it! Airline attendants at Continental who had seen Whopper’s canine boarding pass denied jumped right in to save the day and of course the pooch. Jane Bossi took the puppy home and sent daily emails and photos to Whopper’s owner in Spain. When Bossi was due to leave for her Christmas vacation to visit her mother, another co-worker took over.

Continental Airlines does have a proactive program for the safe traveling of our four-legged friends. Their PetSafe program and their Pet Relocation services can relieve some of the pressure pet owners may experience when moving domestically within the United States or internationally like our little friend Whopper. And in the summer when the heat is unbearable and pet owners are warned not to fly with their pets, Continental uses pressurized temperature controlled cargo areas as well as expedited areas for on and off boarding on the tarmac for pets.

Thank you to the  special employees of Continental Airlines for taking care of Whopper.

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