Arthur arrived late on Earth. He was supposed to park the ship in the hangar for inspection, but he didn’t, because before he landed, Winslow, his supervisor, had phoned him in to report to the office immediately. He frowned with frustration as he saw the sign over Winslow’s office door. John Winslow, Delivery Team Supervisor, Nanny Robot Galactic Services.
Winslow, a heavy man about six-two, had tried hard to control his temper. “Sit down,” he said. He strutted to the door.
An alarm went off and a bulb on top of the door flickered a green light. Winslow pressed a button on the wall and the alarm stopped. He moved his mouth closer to the small speaker next to the button. “He’s here,” he said.
Winslow moved out of the office without leaving a word to Arthur. He knew he was no good at handling this kind of situation. He met Philippe, the company coach, in the hallway. He clucked his tongue. “He’s all yours.”
Philippe grinned. He entered Winslow’s office and noticed Arthur looking down in dismay.
“How are you?” said Philippe, in a welcoming tone.
Arthur shook his head. “I was late.”
“I understand how it feels. I was once a delivery man to Mars, and I had been late a few times. Don’t worry, I’m here to help you.” Philippe sat down in front of him. “So, tell me what happened?”
“I had to deliver the nanny robots to Terra Jenica by the 24th of April 2310,” Arthur said in a lonely tone.
“Were you able to get it there on time?”
“Nope. I almost passed by an asteroid. I needed to avoid it. It took me a few hours to get back on the right path.” He shook his head again. “I’m really disappointed. I should have made some contingency plans before I took off.”
“It’s normal to be disappointed. We’re not perfect. Sometimes we make mistakes. And that’s normal. We’re not like the product we deliver.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Arthur said. He started to feel comfortable talking to Philippe, although he didn’t know what the talk was about. He had been expecting that Philippe would tell him it was his last day on the job or that they fired him.
“The product recipient shared its feedback last week. Do you think It was satisfied with the service we provided?”
He took a glimpse of Philippe. “I’m not sure, actually. During my two weeks’ journey going back here, I have been worried about Its feedback. I have been worried about losing my job here.”
“I understand. Would you mind if I share with you Its feedback?” Philippe rolled his left long-sleeve up. He showed his inner arm with a circular screen fixed on it. A hologram came out from the screen. A humanoid alien with a head of a squid appeared standing on the screen.
“Your service was late. But I like how the human treated me. I’m one of the lower-class races in Terra Jenica, but I felt like the human treated me equally,” the alien said.
Arthur squinted in amazement. He didn’t notice that he cracked a smile.
“Would you like to play the feedback again?” Philippe asked, trying to build up Arthur’s morale.
“Is it fine?” Arthur’s face lit up.
Philippe bowed. He replayed the feedback. After the recording stopped, he smiled at Arthur. “Why do you think the alien said that?”
“I think because I treated It the way I treat my friends. When I got there, I greeted It, and shook its tentacles. I knew that’s the way their race shows amity.”
“That’s perfect. We hope to continue that best practice of yours. Probably we can share that with your colleagues, especially those who deliver to Ganymede. Our customer satisfaction score from Ganymede is quite low.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Good. Regarding the late delivery of our nanny robots, what do you think our galactic customers would feel?”
“Disappointed and dissatisfied.”
“Why do you think they’d feel like that?”
“They need our product and services on time. The nanny robots must arrive as early as possible. I know how important it is for them to have nanny robots.”
“Why is that important?”
“Our galactic customers look up to us, humans, on how we take care of our children. We have the best mother skills programmed on our nanny robots.”
“I definitely agree. And what’s the impact of late delivery on the company you’re working for, in this case, the NR Galactic Services?”
Arthur looked up. “Most likely, our galactic customers would no longer patronize our services. It’s a business loss.”
Philippe nodded. “And how does it impact you as an NRGS delivery human?”
He looked down at his scuffed shoes. “If I continue to deliver nanny robots late, you will fire me.”
“That’s correct. NR Galactic Services can not afford to lose customers from Terra Jenica, Mars, and Jupiter. Last month, we lost dozens of customers because of space pirates. You’ve probably heard about the hijacking on one of the NRGS delivery ships. That was the biggest loss we’ve got so far.”
Arthur listened carefully to every word he said.
“What do you think we can do to avoid being late to our destination?”
“I’ve thought about it many times on the ship going back here. I will make sure to reach out first to the Department of Astronomy to check the path my ship will take. In this way, I could make an exact computation to avoid asteroids or any terrestrial body along the way.”
“That’s awesome.” Philippe extended his arm with a circular screen. “We have our conversation recorded for documentation. Please look at the screen to sign your commitment.”
Arthur did so. The screen captured his eye. It suddenly displayed his identity. And the screen spoke in a robotic voice, “Arthur Reyes just signed his coaching.”
“Thank you.” Philippe rose and shook Arthur’s hand. Once he was out of the office, Arthur let out the heaviest sigh of his life.