Most often when it comes to a business a customer wouldn’t really care if you are having a bad or off day as a reason not to deliver whatever it is that they ordered from you. For example, if they paid your company to deliver an item that is time sensitive then even if you are sick that day they still expect you to find a way to fulfill your end of the agreement. But it made me wonder like in this case if you specifically knew that something tragic happened to a person inside that business would you then be understanding of their situation?
Recently I heard of a scenario where a person’s family member had passed away. For his line of work it requires constant communication with customers each day as someone could be losing out on thousands of dollars if he doesn’t work. So apparently he left an e-mail message informing people of the tragic loss but stressed that it will be business as usual. Like there would you be inclined to let the business take it easy for a week or would you be blunter in saying they just need to find a way to keep things going regardless?
For a smaller business like a one man operation I can see people being more understanding. But for a large corporation I can’t imagine people having much sympathy. I suppose either way you should always have a plan to run business as usual as they say.