"The more I observed, the more I began to formulate the notion that flexibility is the key to pleasing customers. Retail outlets that adhere strictly to store policy tend to antagonize people. We all like to think that we have unique needs, preferences, and desires. I concluded that good stores -- and libraries -- focus on people, not policies. [But] the biggest skeptics were always the circulation clerks." (Will Manley, "Rule-Benders Rule", American Libraries 9/08, p 80)

"Great service is hard to find because, quite simply, it isn't fair." (Ari Weinzweig, Zingerman's Guide to Giving Great Service, p 33)

Circulation departments can be nesting places for inflexible attitudes towards customers, and usually in the name of "fairness". Many of us have this notion that life should be fair, and that we should never back down when customers are in the wrong. But that isn't the way customer service works. As Weinzweig tells his employees, "'Fair' is another planet. If you need things to be fair, then it's time to think about a different place to work." (ibid, p 34) Library stewardship isn't jurisprudence, and circulation clerks aren't magistrates. It's often the case that unpleasant patrons get more attention (and better service) by complaining about what upsets them.

As I emphasized before, this doesn't mean that rules go out the window (nor that we become doormats, especially to those who frequently exploit our flexibility), only that policies are forever subject to people, not vice-versa. As Manley implies in the American Libraries article, there's a higher law in customer service, one riddled with ambiguity and subjectivity. It's the law of flexibility and good public relations, and we follow it at the Nashua Public Library. Or at least we try.