The other night, my wife Adina and I had one of our coveted date nights. Kids were with the grandparents and we had a night to ourselves. We decided to see a film, and centered our evening around the screening time. We planned to have a relaxing dinner prior, but as we kicked-back in our temporarily responsibility-less, childfree home, we lost track of time and suddenly movie-time was closing in. Because of this, a relaxing sit-down dinner became impossible, so we grabbed a quick bite, hurriedly ate, then hailed a cab to the movie theater. Upon arriving at the theater, utility trucks were everywhere and 2 people in beach chairs were camped up before the theater entrance. It was then and there that we were informed that the theater was closed, due to an underground utility fire that left several blocks power-free, going on 2 days now.

As you might imagine, we weren’t thrilled. The theater website had no notice of any closing, only the show times. We could have planned things much differently and not be so rushed. But, such is life. And as you also might imagine, these 2 folks informing people of the theater’s closing weren’t thrilled either, having to repeat the same story to countless disappointed people, going on 2 days now. This was hardly a win-win situation.

I asked the folks if the theater has been closed for 2 days now, why the information wasn’t on the website. It was met with a shrug, a sort of “I don’t know why”. We were then told we could go to another theater, close by and with power that would be showing the same film 1½ hours later.   We mentioned that would be too later for us, and we were told, “Bummer”. Bummer.  We walked away not only disappointed, but a little pissed-off as well.

Yes, bummer indeed. Bummer for us, as we infrequently have a night to ourselves and scheduled it around something that wasn’t even going to happen. Bummer for those guys, who had to deal with disappointed person after person, with nothing to gain from it. Bummer for the businesses who were losing out on business because of something outside of their control.   Bummers all around.

In spite of the bummers, there was a way to handle this situation that would minimize the bummer, or at least not amplify it. Many times, it’s not necessarily the ability to resolve a problem that matters, but how one handles not being able to resolve it. By saying, “Bummer”, it was like saying, “Too bad”, or “That’s life”. Now, those things may be true, but they don’t help the situation, at best they exasperate it. They don’t make someone want to do business with that entity again. A better way, and a better way for business, is to acknowledge the person’s “bummer” and to express empathy for their disappointment. Doing so won’t resolve the situation, but at least it won’t create an opportunity for someone to take his or her frustration and disappointment out on you and your business…because that would really be a bummer.