Those who get it, and those who... well, you decide.

A friend manages a local branch of a large restaurant chain. This company has an executive whose job is to manage service providers in the Southeast - refrigeration companies, food service suppliers, exterminators... you get the idea.

Now, in Florida, the question isn't 'Will your restaurant get cockroaches?' Rather, it's 'How long will the roaches remain?' And it had been three days from the initial sighting of a cockroach in the customer area of my friend's restaurant. The exterminator still hadn't shown.

My friend called the cell phone of said executive to discuss the matter. It was 9:30 on a Friday night. My friend expected to get the exec's voice mail. Instead, the lady picked up herself - and boy, was she mad!

"How dare you call me at 9:30 on a Friday night? It's not your place to call me, anyway. Tell it to your district supervisor. Never, ever call me again." She hung up before my friend could get in a reply.

Your thoughts? Was the executive right? If you were that executive's boss, what would you do? I'll weigh in shortly.

Now let's contrast that to my pal Truly Nolen - who, ironically, is founder and CEO of one of the largest family-owned extermination companies in the world. In the U.S alone, his company brings in over $80 million a year. What would he do if one of his managers called him with a problem at 9:30 on a Friday night?

Last Friday I was in Truly's office when his assistant, Betty, told me, "Whew! It's been a long day. We've had three complaints today: one in Tucson, one in Sarasota, and one here in Naples. Truly took two; I just resolved the third."

"Truly handles customer complaints himself?" I asked. His company has almost 80 locations in the U.S. alone, mind you.

"Everybody wants to talk to the head mouse," Betty replied. "His name is on the trucks." She went on, "Every customer and every employee is given his number. He gets calls all the time."

"From employees, too?"

She looked at me, as if to say, 'What do you think?' Betty's exceptionally nice though, so somehow she pulled that look off without making me feel like too much of a dope.

"He gets calls all the time. He wants to know what his people are thinking."

"Even the guys working the routes, spraying houses and offices?"

"Especially them. Truly's always been very interested in what's going on in the field. He loves people."

After further investigation I learned that the complaint in Arizona was from a woman living in a double-wide trailer, on social security, with a house-bound husband and a bad case of pack rats. I'm an avid watcher of Animal Planet, but somehow I'd missed that pack rats actually exist as a species. "Oh, yeah. They can be 20 pounds - big as a cat! Pack rats are tough. Once you get them, they're nearly impossible to get rid of. Our guys have to keep going back until they're gone."

So here's this guy, this really, really, incredibly rich and successful guy, who has a company president reporting to him (among many others), and he's helping a broke old lady with her pack-rat complaint.

Then there's this mid-level executive who treats her people like... well, as Jane said, "Like animals. I was going to say she treats them like slaves, but even that isn't strong enough. You can't treat people that way!"

I asked Jane if I was too bloodthirsty for thinking the executive should be fired for her behavior. Jane's much nicer than me, and isn't as comfortable firing people. "Is that too harsh?" I asked. "Maybe she should just be talked to...?"

Jane didn't hesitate a second. "Off with her head. You can't treat people that way. Think of the example she's setting! How is your friend going to treat her employees now? And how are they going to treat their customers? This big-shot is poison for her entire multinational brand!"

What would you do? What would your boss do, or your subordinates? Your answer tells a lot about the kind of company you work for - or run. Leadership - Culture - Service. How healthy is your company?

Take a five-star test from a real-life situation that just happened to me yesterday. www.NaplesResource.blogspot.com - find the entry for Cartridge World, dated July 6, 2007.