After the debacle of trying to get the guys at CIDA Campus to the Olympics, Sam and I ended up taking the opportunity and headed off to Beijing.
I’ll start by saying that the whole experience overall was phenomenal. We were treated like gold, spoiled in every way possible and won’t forget it. Ever. Thanks to Visa for making it such a rad experience.
But, the reason for this post, however, is to explain what happened just 30 minutes into our flight from Johannesburg to Singapore (our connecting flight to Beijing).
Once the seatbelt signs had been switched off, Sam reclined her chair (as you do) to get comfy and read her book. Not long after that, the guy sitting behind her started to kick the back of her chair. She turned to him with that ‘Please stop kicking the chair’ look, and he stopped, for a minute. Then he started kicking it harder, so much so that it started to annoy me in the next chair. After a monster kick Sam turns around and says ‘Why are you kicking my chair?’ And this is how the convo went:
Guy: I have nowhere to put my legs.
Sam: So just ask me to put my seat up a little. Don’t be so rude.
Guy: Well, there’s no space for my legs.
Sam lifts her seat.
Five minutes later…
Guy (to me): Sorry, please can you lift your seat? My wife has no space for her legs.
Me: Sure, no problem. What you could try do is cross your legs so that they fit snug underneath the chair in front of you. That’s what I do.
Wife: Well I can’t because I get clots in legs, so just have a bit of consideration and leave it alone okay?
Me: Well, consideration works both ways. If I want to have my seat…
Guy (interrupts me): Hey just listen here…
Wife (interrupts him, pointing her finger at me): I’m twice your age so just shut up!
Me (my voice raised): Hey lady, don’t you ever speak to anyone like that ever again, who the hell do…
Guy (interrupts me): Listen my friend don’t speak to my wife like that.
Me (still raised voice): Well she shouldn’t speak to people she doesn’t know like that!
They both wave me off. Meanwhile, Sam has left to find a stewardess to find us other seats. I turn around to speak to them again.
Me: Listen, we have to spend another ten hours on this plane together, why don’t we all just calm down and everyone can be happy.
Guy: Ja fine.
Sam gets back with a stewardess. Relays the saga a little louder than needed, stewardess whispers she’ll get us to another area of the plane.
The end result of the argument: We got seats right in front of the plane, with plenty of leg room. Awesome.
Now, although the new seats were much better than our originals, the journey there was not much fun. I hate fighting with people, especially people I don’t know, and especially over something as juvenile as kicking the back of a seat.
What we later realised is that this couple was part of a bigger group. They were with the guy who mocked the oriental stewardess when she asked him, in broken English, where his seat is so she could help him get there. They were with the other guys who walked around the plane, when most people were sleeping, finding their friends and talking too loud. They were also with the guy who, when was told he can’t have another whiskey and soda (his speech and eyes told me he’d had his fair share) because breakfast was about to be served, told the stewardess that she’s not his mother, and she should get him another drink.
So after realising they were all part of a group, Sam and I set out trying to find out who they were with. After hearing the company name a few times in drunken conversation, I confirmed it when we landed.
Me: So are you guys on a business trip together?
Guy (senior-looking, and very sober): Ja I’m taking my guys to the Olympics.
Me: Just fun or incentive?
Guy: These are the top sales guys at Discovery.
What? Top sales? Sales where you actually speak to someone, make them believe your product is worth the money and get them to sign up?
Ok. So none of these guys actually sold me anything, but their behaviour was so shocking that I’m reconsidering my account. And these are the top guys? I’m horrified.
My overall learnings from the whole event:
1. People who kick chairs obviously don’t fly much.
2. Don’t offer people advice while flying. They feel bad that they know less than you and then start an argument.
3. People who kick chairs and start arguments are of significant importance, because if they were someone special or senior, they would have handled the situation with a lot more discipline and common sense.
4. When someone tells you they’re twice your age, and then tells you to ’shut up’, just remember physical age is very different to mental age. Only a six-year-old tells you to ’shut up’ when having an argument.
5. There are hundreds of other people sitting on the same plane with exactly the same leg room. If they can do it, so can you. If it’s that terrible, or you clot, fly business class next time, cheapo.
6. People that drink all night on an aeroplane and are extremely rude to stewardesses, are arseholes.
7. Discovery’s top sales team has a bunch of bad apples. I think they need to re-look who they’re paying to kill their brand with their rudeness.
8. No matter what you do, where you are, people will write about you if you do something silly.
* Update: Lee (the senior guy) phoned and said he felt really bad about what happened. He had no idea that it occurred until someone referred him to this post. Lee, thanks very much, I wasn’t looking for an apology, just to let everyone know what can happen on trips and be mindful in the future, but it’s really nice to know that some people still care. You rock.
* Update 2: The response from Discovery has been outstanding. Feedback after speaking to their guys, addressing something like this with the utmost importance. Again, I’m really chuffed that they’ve investigated into it to hopefully keep things like representing your company and brand top of mind when in the public arena.
Well done guys. If this helps your business, and any other business after reading about what can happen, we’re all winners. Group hug!
August 19th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Top Post. This is when I LOVE having a blog and being read by people. This is when blogging is effective and makes brands like (my medical aid) Discovery look like morons.
Great work. Pity about the tits in the back row.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Yeah great post Don, Discovery as a brand for me has always been rather questionable. This just confirms that there literally are a bunch of idiots working there, right from the call center agents to their “top” sales guys.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Nice one. Love point 8.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Absolutely brilliant! I hope you send this on to Discovery…
August 20th, 2008 at 9:36 am
@nic - haha, power to the people!
@sean - interesting point actually - I wonder if Discovery will respond in the comments? Hmmm, I’m going to call them.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I think this story is going to develop legs.
Would love to see whether (and how) Discovery responds.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Just reinforces my view on Discovery and how much I think their brand and how they do business sucks.
I know to many people that use Discovery and think they are a useless bunch of idiots. The sales guys sell their company pretty well!
August 20th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I feel for the sales guys,its hard selling a package that doesn’t pay out, rips you off and make up for it by giving you a 5% discount on Nandos.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Ha ha I can’t wait to see what Discovery has to say! Don this should have been a newspaper article…unless of course Discovery advertises in the particular newspaper, then it would never make it! Good times, I will keep a check here to see what is happening…
August 21st, 2008 at 9:26 am
I have been an unhappy customer of theirs for the last 6 months. Always promised solutions never see any. This company is a fucking sham. Almost a grand a month goes out of my salary to these chumps for the last 4 years and they won’t even cover my wisdoms. And that was the first time in four years I have tried to claim.
This story just inspired me to stop being lazy and find a different plan. Can your readers make any suggestions?
Thanks
August 21st, 2008 at 9:27 am
I have been a customer for 4 years and unhappy for the last 6 months is what i meant to say
August 21st, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Skye - you are so ignorant! If you buy a cheap Asian import, dont expect German engineering - you get what you pay for. I do admit that the behaviour of the said people was wrong, hopefully soemthing will be done to prevent a repeat.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Discovery must be the WORST medical aid out there - I can honestly say I LOATHE spending nearly 2 grand a month with them for myself and 1 dependant. If I was not forced by my employer to be a Discovery member, they would be my ABSOLUTE last choice. I was previously on CAMAF and they are by far a superior medical aid with real value for money (at less subs per month).
Interesting story - last week Sunday I had to get a rather urgent script for my daughter who was running a raging temperature and I couldn’t purchase any medication at the pharmacy because Discovery was performing routine maintenance on their system. I was politely told to “try again at 4pm”. Nice boet!
August 26th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Nice post,
Makes me embarrassed to admit I actually sell discovery products. I hope these particular sales people can be trained to be brand ambassadors rather than poorly mannered big shots.
As for medical aid, Andriette said it: “you get what you pay for”. Unfortunately medical aids don’t have a magical source of money like robert mugabe. They actually have to balance what goes out against what comes in.
So next time your R250 000 knee replacement operation is covered by your 1000 rand per month medical aid plan, you can thank the people complaining above.
August 29th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
fantastic post.
I’m glad you named and shamed because it just makes it so much funnier.
at 6′5 I normally have this problem but the other way around.
on a flight from mauritius, the guy in front of me wouldn’t move back up and when I asked the stewardess to please move me or talk to him, she gave me a stern look and told me that it’s not policy to move people and the guy in front of me could do what he wanted.
guess I’m never flying to mauritius again.
and from his conversation I could hear he was into sales…
August 30th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Angus Says:
August 30th, 2008 at 11:34 am
SDL FINANCIAL SERVICES
Whilst driving down the N1 on the 3rd of August, between Colesburg and Beaufort West, I was overtaken by at least one of SDL Financial Services (http://www.sdl-groep.co.za/) vehicles driving in convoy with three other vehicles - SDL 005 WP - a black BMW X3.
At the Beaufort West Wimpy a second Bronze coloured X3 arrived later - SDL 010 WP.
The black X3 vehicle and the other vehicles, two black hummers and a Mercedes Benz, were driving down the highway at 160KPH + (I tried following to gauge their speed) headlights ablaze, driving two abreast (one car in the yellow lane intimidating other road users into moving aside, overtaking in this manner in locations where road works were underway and speed limits dictated less than 60kph.
Amazing that these people carried on like this whilst having a web address on the back window of one of the cars in letters six inches high……..!
I was of the opinion that a complaint should be made to the police (but to be honest I forgot to do so within a reasonable time).
I emailed SDL directly to their client services address I obtained from their website, and have received no response.
The fact that they havent responded is exactly the type of attitude represented by their staff on the road - bloody arrogant!
I sent this to Getclosure.co.za, who came back to me saying SDL had declined to respond.
If they had simply replied in the first place acknowledging the issue and saying they would address it with the people concerned, it would have ended there - as it stands the people concerned were probably the people who should be doing the addressing?
How is this for behaviour from a company who’s website claims:
“Become part of the SDL family today and experience how SDL could make a difference to your life”
Creating a better lifestyle for Families!
November 4th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I think it is about time that medical aids were made to pay for what their member pay for.
If a patient requires an operation the medical aid must pay for the procedure from beginning to the end. The end being until the patient has recovered from the operation. i.e. he has returned to full health as far as possible.
In certain cases operations require ongoing care to ensure the success of the procedure.
Due to the high costs of hospitalisation patients are discharged before all necessary care is given as it is more cost efficient to do so out of hospital.
In many cases if the after care is not followed the operation is not successful and the operation might have to be performed once more.
In the case of Discovery they refuse to pay for Physiotherapy after an operation, if it is done after the patient leaves the hospital. They say they are willing to pay for it while the patient is in
hospital. As this is a lengthy process it is not feasible for the patient to stay in hospital for the extra 3 months.
The particular case I am referring to is an ACL repair. In this instance the procedure cannot have proper benefits if the patient does not have extensive therapy to enable mobilisation of the knee and leg.
Therefore Discovery are not fulfilling their obligation to their members.
I think that it is shocking that The Health Department and the government allow companies like Discovery to abuse their members, especially as all people who pay huge medical aid bills are only benefiting the already very stretched general hospitals.
As the government cannot support the whole public they should make it compulsory that for the exorbitant rates that medical aids charge that they – the medical aids- cover the necessary requirements for operations that members are “supposed to be covered for.
Why does the man in the street always have to be abused, especially by the small man that does not have the same type of funds that discovery and companies like them have.
Will government and the medical schemes board start supporting us now and put an end to the every greedy companies that benefit due to sickness and ill health.
I would like something to be done about this.
PLEASE NOTE THE OPERATION CANNOT BE A SUCCESS UNLESS PHYSIOTHERAPY IS DONE ON THE AFFECTYED AREA AFTER THE OPERATION. IF THIS IS NOT DONE THE WHOLE PROCEDURE IS A WASTE OF TIME. WHAY ARE DISCOVERY ALLOWED TO ONLY COVER PART OF THE PROCEEDURE.
THAT MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER