Which brings me to a story I heard recently on NPR about a man who innocently enough bought a ‘lemonade’ at the ballpark for his 10-year-old son. Despite the $8 price he didn’t realize that it was alcoholic…he figured it was just the normal expensive crap ball park food. A security guard caught up with them, forced them to go to the hospital where it was found that no alcohol was still in the boy’s bloodstream. But the boy was put into state custody (only following procedure) and a judge denied immediate release (only following procedure). The boy was in state custody for two weeks before he was allowed to go home. Which leads me to say WTF?!?

Policies matter – and they can matter a lot – but because they are ‘hidden’ it can catch the customer by surprise, in good and bad ways.

The thinking is that innovation in the service sector will not come from above but from below. Inefficiencies in the service chain, such as you could have experienced, are almost always in response to something unexpected, such as leaving a wallet on an airplane for several hours.

When service workers confronts an unexpected situation, do they a) seek a manager to deal with the non-standard variation or b) use their knowledge and the knowledge of those around them to troubleshoot and resolve?

Your ‘miracle’ was that you found the latter. Think about the value your helper delivered both to you and her organization. A lost wallet is no small deal, so had it ‘disappeared,’ we’d all be reading a much different story. Had the wallet been found when the plane was half-way around the world, many hours would be devoted to managing its safe return. Now, with a happy resolution, BA is enjoying some free PR among an influential group.

With the prominence you’ve given this episode, it would be great to see what BA have to say. Was this woman making decisions outside the defined protocol or is ‘front line innovation’ a part of their service regime?