You do know that I can see you, right?

About an hour ago I was sitting in the parking lot of my kids’ school and saw a man walking across the parking lot to retrieve his children wearing a bright red jacket and eggplant-purple sweats. 
I thought to myself, “He does know that we can see him, right?  
Presumably this man lives in a house with at least one mirror.  At some point he made a conscious decision to put on the t-shirt and sweats, and another conscious decision to select his red jacket to wear over it to go to the school.  I think it’s also safe to assume that he knew that other people would be there. 
You know those moments – the ones when you see someone who so obviously chose to ignore the fact that other people could see how they chose to present themselves to the outside world – and you cannot help but stare, head cocked to one side, thinking, “This person does know that we can see them, right? 
And then it struck me. 
And I wondered how many of you have forgotten that people can, in fact, see your business in the same way.  How many of your customers often silently reflect, head cocked to one side, “They do know that I can see this, right? 
The red jacket.  Red is an attention-getter, and often (in nature as well as in our lives – stoplights, police lights, brake lights, etc.) a stopper. 
The red jacket could be your receptionist chatting away on what is obviously a personal phone call as I wait, patiently, for her to help me or to complete my transaction with your company.  Or the red jacket could be two of your staff members gossiping to one another about the exploits of the night before, a co-worker, or complaining about their boss (that’s you!) right in front of me.   All stoppers.  All things that just killed the customer service, the ambience, the feeling you wanted me to have that your business is an oasis that I should want to spend my time in. 
The eggplant purple sweats.  Less glaring, but so-very-awkward and uncomfortable (as purple sweats almost always are); the outdated website. The promotion from the last holiday still sitting on the shelf.  The expired offer still displayed by the register.  The business card with your phone number crossed out and written over or worse (as I saw in a wine shop I visited for a tasting last week) the menu with the prices crossed out and written over, telling me just how much more I am now paying for the same product that used to cost me significantly less. 
As I wait patiently for you to help me or ponder whether your products and services are worth the increase in price compared to the crossed-out price on the menu (or the price I found on your website and expected to pay when I came in) I sit, head cocked to one side, asking, “You do know that I can see this, right? 

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