My Experience at Buffalo Wild Wings 4 Years Ago Still Has Me Thinking

Why hyper policy culture hurts human connection

P.S. there will be no weekly News Memo on Friday as we will be celebrating the 4th of July!

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“Can I get the burger he ordered?”
“Sure, just order through your phone.”
“Sorry, my phone doesn't have internet right now. Can I just tell you my order?”
“Sorry, it won't work unless you order through the phone.”
“Would it work if I just tell you my order and pay with my card instead?”

The waiter looked flustered and didn't know what to do. I ended up ordering through my friend’s phone, which took about 5–10 minutes to create an account and manually enter my credit card information.

This experience at Buffalo Wild Wings 4 years ago is still something I think about and encounter frequently today.

It seems like many employees struggle to figure out basic problems. Instead, it’s like they are trapped between the policy handbook and the person in front of them.

There is a place and need for policies, but not at the expense of all human connection and problem-solving. If being an employee is simply following every policy in the book, AI bots will do that much more effectively than us humans. But then we risk losing human encounters and acts of love and reason.

I wanted to write this article because I had the complete opposite experience, where someone took the human approach instead of the policy approach, and it has left a lasting impact on me in my life.

My wife and I had a scary incident in our pregnancy. One clinic told us the only option, based on their policy, was to go to the ER instead of receiving an ultrasound. For context, the last time we went to the ER for a similar incident, it took about eight hours of waiting just to receive an ultrasound that cost thousands of dollars compared to a regular appointment.

Restless, we called another clinic and asked for a doctor we had heard great things about. I told her the situation and context. She listened and could sense my uneasiness and fear.

“How far away are you from our clinic?” she asked.
“About 20 minutes.”
“Why don’t you drive here right now, and I can check on the baby.”

The OBGYN doctor clarified that she is not technically an ultrasound tech, but could do a simple ultrasound just to make sure the baby was still alive. She kept the clinic open 30 minutes late.

When we arrived, the nurses and staff knew we were coming and met us with love. The doctor sat with us while we wept, seeing the heartbeat of our little baby. She stayed late, answered our questions, and set us up for an official ultrasound as soon as possible.

It was one of the most beautiful moments of our life. Yes, technically they closed at 5. Yes, technically they don’t schedule 15-minute notice appointments. But that doctor was not focused on the technicalities; she was focused on the humans in front of her in need.

My main plea here is to corporate leaders and business owners: hire good people and empower them to solve problems and treat customers' problems like a human would, instead of calculating everything from a policy lens.

Peace,
John

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A note to recent subscribers: In addition to the core News Memo sent every Friday (which covers current events), we also publish a biweekly piece on Tuesdays that takes various forms (essays, interviews, etc.) and is more cultural / personal in nature.

If you’re interested, below are some recent pieces we’ve published:

• Trading Brain Power for Convenience

• "Dad, It Looks Like AI": Technology Shapes Our View of the World

• I went back to a dumb phone and life has been better

• Pope John Paul II's Visits to Latin America Boosted Fertility Rates