"The concert business is not over!"

That was Chip Hooper on the phone right now, agent for Phish and the Dave Matthews Band.  Telling me he was breaking O.A.R. right this very second…

I KNOW!  I KNOW!

Got to give Chip credit, he foresaw the jam band world two decades ago.

But that’s not why I’m writing this.

After I shouted Chip down, telling him the Phishheads had already blown up my inbox, telling me about high times and sold-out dates, we started talking Kindle.

Chip initially purchased a Sony Reader.  Bought a PC just to be able to sync it (Chip’s been a Mac head forever).  But when he was informed of the wireless sync with the Kindle, he switched loyalties and got a Kindle 2.

If you know Chip…he closes you.  He called me months ago, told me I had to get a Patagonia case…  But I already had the Amazon case!  But when I traveled, my Kindle was vulnerable.  So I just told Chip that I’d purchased the Patagonia case, when it had finally come back into stock, and was extremely happy, I put the Kindle in the Amazon case in the Patagonia case and it was safe!

And then Chip has to tell me a story…

He’s flying to Orange County with his son for a basketball event earlier this week and he gets to the hotel room and he realizes…  He left the Kindle in the plane’s seat pocket!

He’s freaking out.  Someone can read all his books, buy new ones!

He immediately gets a hold of Amazon and kills the Kindle.  Frustrated that he won’t have it on his trip, but knowing his credit card is safe.

But at 10 A.M. the following morning, he gets an e-mail.  Is he ______ Hooper, and did he leave his Kindle on a Southwest flight?

Needless to say, "Chip" is not his first name.  His real first name is generic.  And that’s all the Kindle said "______’s Kindle".  Yes, everybody’s Kindle has a name, but you don’t include your last name, mine is "Bob’s Kindle".  But Southwest had cross-referenced all eight legs the airplane had flown the previous day, and tracked Chip down.  Even better, upon acknowledging that it was his Kindle, Southwest FedEx’ed it to him overnight, at the airline’s expense.  And when he received it, Chip contacted Amazon and they reloaded his Kindle while he was on the phone.

Amazing.

What’s truly amazing is Southwest Airlines, willing to go the extra mile.

Conventional wisdom is customers just want to rip companies off.  To the contrary, we want to love our companies.  In this soulless world we want something to believe in.  So when a corporation provides customer service beyond our expectations, not only are we thrilled, we tell everybody we know!

Do the unexpected, go the extra mile.  That’s the key to Zappos’ success.

As for Southwest…  Did you see they just went into Logan?

We’re all in it together on Southwest.  If only we were all in it together in the rest of society.