I recently had one of THE worst customer service experiences while trying to get an oil change. My husband had made the appointment well in advance. When I showed up to the dealer service, I went inside to check in. The man behind the counter asked what I was there for and explained that I needed an oil change and tire rotation.

Oh, you will need to go over to that building he said, pointing to a shop two buildings away. It had another dealership’s name on it.

Are you sure? I asked, that isn’t even the same dealership.

Yes, he said, they do our oil changes and tire rotations.

I drove over to the other building and went inside to check in. The woman behind the counter told me I needed to get back into my car and go into the third lane in front of the service area.

Do I stay in my car? I asked.

Well, you can, she said.

At this point, I went to the third lane and waited because there was no one there to check me in and there was another car in front of me. I finally got out and walked into the service garage and asked one of the mechanics what the system was. He told me to just leave my keys in the car and go wait inside.

I was then told they couldn’t do the tire rotation because my tires were a “safety hazard.” Mind you, there are less than 30,000 miles on this car and they are good tires. They told me they could get someone to talk to me about tires. I thanked them and said I would purchase my tires where I live. I was then told they needed to make sure it was safe to drive the car due to the tires. Huh? I’ve never heard of this before. The kicker: when I went to pay, they tried to charge me for the tire rotation! When I pointed out the error, the cashier told me I was just in time as she had almost run my card and it would have been too late. I politely said, I would have asked for a refund as I didn’t have the service done.

Hello??? What was wrong with this entire experience?

Everything….almost.

Have you ever been somewhere and thought—if they could just fix “the system,” it would make a big difference. That is what I felt like throughout this experience—starting from the very beginning when the appointment was made. A simple education on which building a person goes to for this service would have been useful. Secondly, I would add better signage and directions once a person arrives at the location. Third, perhaps the way customers are talked to and processed would make a huge difference. I’m a pretty reasonable person, but this experience got even me to the “are you kidding me” phrase in my head.

How many places in our world have systems that are so broken right now? Healthcare, childcare, raising kids, schools, humanity! I could go on and on. In fact, if I don’t start focusing on what is working, I could get caught in a downward spiral worthy of a tornado rating. I find myself asking, what are the ways I can be a part of the solution? Are we so overwhelmed that we can’t even find a starting point? Are we so busy in the doing that we have forgotten about the being? I realized that, for me, there are three key things I need to work on in my own system. I hope they can be useful for you and maybe even the world.

1. Set boundaries and know my limits. Instead of saying yes to everything, be clear about what I am saying yes to and what I am saying no to.
2. Stop trying to be everything to everybody. Stay in my lane. Make sure I know what my lane is and when I get outside of it, correct immediately.
3. Take time to rest and step back. We lose perspective when we are too caught up in everything or moving at too fast a pace. Resting is essential. It sparks our creativity and allows our brain and body to perform at optimal levels.

I hope this has been useful for you. I choose to believe that we can recreate and connect to a world without so many broken systems. It starts with each of us. One person and one system at a time.

Where are you starting?