This is a true story that happened between the customer of General Motors and its Customer-care executive. It teaches us many things: the importance of customer service, the outcome of thinking differently; and the value of deciphering the bizarre!

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors: ‘I recently purchased a new Pontiac and I take it to buy ice cream after dinner and the trips are creating a problem. Every time I buy vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store, my car won’t start. If I get any other ice cream, the car starts just fine.’

The Pontiac President was understandably sceptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The engineer met the car owner just after dinner time and the two took the Pontiac to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and when they returned to the car, it wouldn’t start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car didn’t start.

Does Pontiac have taste buds? Would it know which ice cream is being bought? The whole thing sounds bloody bizarre, isn’t it?

The engineer knew there had to be a logical explanation. He continued his visits. One day he had an idea. It took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavour. Why?

The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being a popular flavour, was kept in the front of the store. Other flavours were kept in the back of the store and hence took considerably longer to get them.

The question for the engineer now was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time.

Bingo. Time was the problem. Not the ice cream!

With the problem narrowed down, the engineer came up with the answer. Vapour lock.

It was happening every night alright, but the extra time taken to get the other flavours allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate.

No matter how crazy a problem looks like, there is always a logical explanation and a magical solution. The smart minds understand it better!