Unfairness feels like injustice, and when customers face injustice they are motivated to seek justice.  When customers believe they have been treated unfairly, they are first surprised, then disappointed.  This feeling converts to anger and indignation, emotions that can be held onto for a long time.  Anger wrought from unfairness leads to a desire to punish and is probably the emotional justification for customers who go out of their way to punish an organization.  Trust and fairness are intimately related.  The basis for trust is perceived fairness.  Without trust, a shaky foundation exists for service exchanges.

-Janelle Barlow and Dianna Maul, Emotional Value

From our youngest days on the playground, we have all been concerned with the idea of "fairness."  Someone always got more time on the swings than we did, or they got to play with the "good" racket on the "lucky" side of the court.  While we outgrow a lot of our trivial fairness complaints (especially as we learn what fairness really means), we still carry this concept into adulthood, and it has a strong impact on the way we, as customers, interact with and respond to service providers.  As service providers ourselves, it's vital that we understand this idea, as a sense of unfairness can drive the worst breaks in customer loyalty and the biggest customer service disasters.  We have to ask - what do our customers perceive as fairness?  Be sure to note Barlow and Maul's specific use of the word "perceived" here.  Do we have any policies and procedures that seem unfair from a customer's point of view?