Wally… the cab driver
Harvey Mackay tells the story of Wally…
Harvey was in line for a cab at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. He handed Harvey a laminated card and said:
“I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk, I’d like you to read my mission statement.” Harvey was taken back. The card said:
Wally’s Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.
This blew Harvey away. Then he noticed the inside of the cab was as clean as the outside. Spotless!
Wally slid behind the wheel and said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” Harvey jokingly said, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” “No problem” said Wally, I have a cooler with Coke, diet Coke, water, and orange juice. Stuttering Harvey said, “I’d… I’d like a diet Coke.”
Handing him the diet Coke, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have the Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”
Pulling out from the curb, Wally handed Harvey another laminated card. It read: “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”
As if that were not enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air-conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then Wally advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. “I will be happy to chat” Wally said, “or if you prefer I will leave you to your own thoughts.”
Then Harvey asked, “Wally, have you always served customers like this?” “Not always,” Wally said as he smiled. “in fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. Then Dyer said, “Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. BE an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.”
“That hit me right between the eyes,” Wally said. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”
Harvey asked, “Has this paid off for you?”
“It sure has” Wally said. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”
Wally was phenomenal. He became an eagle!
