When I walked into our local Tesco supermarket 2 weeks ago, all the fridges were broken. There was no produce, meat, milk, cheese, nor any frozen goods. It was a pantry-only supermarket.
Thinking it was a one-off issue, I went back the following week. Broken fridges again.
I went back this morning, confident the fridges would be fixed. Still broken.
When we rely on a company, a product, a service, a team, or a person for something important, we form an expectation.
When that expectation isn’t met, we may let it slide once, twice, maybe three times. But at some point, we hit an expiration date when the milk tastes sour, and we don’t want to go back.
It’s a good reminder that reputations are built over decades, but lost in moments.