“Ayni”: Peru’s Ancient Wisdom Can Still be Found in Its Outstanding Customer Service
As I’m writing this article, I remain awed by what happened two weeks ago. My experience in Peru served as both a business and a life lesson, which is why I’m sharing it here. I am humbled by the excellent customer service that I received in Peru.
First, let’s set the scene. Peru was on bucket-list as it is one of the Eight New Wonders of the World, and a destination that many people have encouraged me to visit. It was a trip that I was unsure would ever happen given the pace of work and life. However, two weeks ago, I boarded a plane out of EWR headed for Lima, Peru. It was happening.
The journey is long and, by the time that I touched down in Lima around 1:00 am local time, I was tired. For this story, timelines are important so I will be stressing the minute-by-minute play-by-play. I hailed a private taxi versus the ones queued up at the passenger drop zone.
Around 20 minutes later, the taxi driver discharged me in front of my hotel in downtown Lima. Thanking him with a nod, I exited the cab without taking note of the cab number or any details about it. Why would I? It was around 1:30 am and I was ready to get settled in my room after a long journey.
I took my bags then proceeded into the hotel lobby to check-in. As soon as I stood in front of the hotel check-in desk, I froze. My passport?! Where the hell was my passport? I had left one of my backpacks in the backseat of the taxi.
The hotel staff was accommodating and chill. “No problem, sir, we’ll call you a taxi and send you back to the airport where you can speak with the taxi dispatcher there.”
By now, it was around 1:45 am, Taxi #2 pulled up to the hotel and I got in, dreading the ride back to the airport. Minutes felt like hours. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I was discharged back at the airport around 2:00 am. The taxi driver could not enter the airport so we were dropped off just beyond the airport entrance and exit.
You’re not going to believe this, but I left my phone in the back of the taxi.
There are no words polite enough to use here in a public forum. You have no idea (or, maybe you do, if you’ve had similar misfortune) of what it was like to be in Lima, Peru, without a passport, without a phone and unable to communicate Spanish. “Not in a good way” would be the understatement of the decade.
But, here’s where faith and luck worked together magically and synergistically. As I entered the airport, I noticed three police officers, two were male and one was female. I later learned that Peru has Tourism Police and these three officers were part of that agency. Again, I don’t speak Spanish so the situation was complicated.
The female officer, Alicia A. was assigned to my case. She was calm, cool and collected. At the same time, she was eager to help. She asked me where I picked the taxi driver from and we walked to that gate.
In my backpack, I had an iPad where I could geo-locate my iPhone if I could get WiFi. The female officer granted me access to her personal mobile phone and created a hot spot. This was the first example of the exemplary customer service that she offered. Luck was on my side, we could see the blip moving towards downtown Lima.
I Face-timed (audio) my phone from my iPad to see if someone would answer my phone. We were doing this while walking to the gate with the hope of finding my original taxi driver By now, it was around 2:15 am. A woman answered my phone, speaking Spanish, of course. Officer Alicia talked to her and the woman on the phone refused to come to the airport, but she did offer an approximate street address of where she lived and agreed to meet us there.
We had the coordinates for the phone. However, what mattered the most was reuniting with my Passport as it was a requirement for the hike the next day. The officer stayed calm and kept assuring me that she was doing all that she could and would get things sorted out.
As we walked towards the door where I met my original taxi-driver, something happened. I saw a silhouette of someone similar to the original taxi driver. You can call it luck. It was him. We told him that I left my backpack in the back seat. Without hesitation, he happily walked us back to the car and there it was. My backpack was just sitting there in his back seat. The officer exerted an extensive effort in due-diligence, recording all the details in her notebook along with photographing the driver, backpack, and taxi.
I was relieved and had almost forgotten about my lost phone. It was then that I realized what it means to go above and beyond.
The officer had a police car waiting for me and told me to get into her car to meet the woman who had my phone. As we were driving around downtown Lima, in the dark, through alleys and places I don’t normally go, the blip was seemingly in two places intersecting between two streets. The officer called my phone. No answer. Somehow, we triangulated where the phone would likely be making a wild guess as to which house we thought it was in.
We walked up to the door. By that time, it was 2:40 am. Let’s just say that we weren’t greeted with a warm coffee and welcome mat. Three menacing dogs growled at us and we eased our way back down the stairs. The officer called my phone again. This time, the woman picked up. They bantered loudly for a bit, then the door opened and she turned over my phone.
The officer carefully documented everything, taking notes and photos as evidence of the transaction showing that the phone was returned to me from the woman who found it at the back of the taxi. We drove back to the airport (this is my third time there by this point) in silence as I mulled over how incredible this officer was, going well beyond the call of duty given her role and well beyond anything that I’ve seen regarding humanity. Nobody does this. Ever!
I was in awe of her customer service and how lucky I was to be standing in the Lima, Peru airport at 3:00 am, reunited with both of my lost items. As I said, this stuff doesn’t happen and if it didn’t happen to me, I’m not sure I’d believe the story.
Officer Alicia took photos of the taxi driver, his cab, and the passport. She meticulously documented every detail including the time-stamp. But her stellar customer service efforts were not yet done. She still had one more gem to share. She knew it was late and she wanted me to get to the hotel safely. She called a cab for me and negotiated a great fare for me.
The taxi driver dropped me back off at the roundabout at 3:15 am. I exited the cab, gracious and thankful, with both my items plus my backpack and entered the hotel lobby dreaming of sleep.
So, what are the lessons learned?
“Ayni” Its Quechua for reciprocity or giving. Ayni as a verb, means a natural disposition to give, share help, and repay. Let’s always remember and practice Ayni when we interact with family, friends, clients and even strangers like myself for officer Alicia.
Excellent customer service can not exist without extreme ownership. We can all do better.
Celebrate and highlight those exemplary people in the world, like Officer Alicia, who needs to be rewarded and called out for their extraordinary acts.
Needless to say, despite the nightmare beginning, my trip to Peru was a dream come true. Here is the picture of Officer Alicia with me at 2.56 AM just before she called a taxi to take me back to the hotel. Thank you, Officer!!
Thanks and Keep Growing,
Gunjan Doshi
CEO, InRhythm