Yesterday, I paid to have my dry-cleaning delivered (don’t look at me like that; I live in NYC) and noticed that my receipt proudly states “All Work Done On Premises.”

When said laundry wasn’t delivered within the window specified, I went there to investigate. When I explained what happened, the gentlemen immediately said that it “must be the wash and fold — it’s always late.”

(This illustrates that all work is actually not done on the premises, of course.)

Sigh.

If the promise is that your company conducts business in a particular way, it’s critical that you deliver on the promise. This should be obvious.

What’s baffling is when companies not only fall short on the promise, but on an even acceptable level of service.