IRONIC MOMENT JEFF BEZOS PHONED CUSTOMER SERVICES IN A MEETING AND PROVED HIS POINT

Jeff Bezos recollected the "uncomfortable" time he called Amazon customer service in the middle of a meeting to make a point.

As the saying goes, time truly is money when you're in charge of a $2.07 trillion business.

Bezos, the former CEO of Amazon, wanted to make sure the company was in the best possible shape in its early days because he didn't become a billionaire overnight.

The 60-year-old is well known for using both anecdotal and data-driven metrics to evaluate and enhance his company. Additionally, he made the extremely uncomfortable decision to test the anecdotal evidence himself during one meeting.

Speaking on the Lex Fridman podcast in December 2023, he relived the moment he put in the call to customer service, back when Amazon was in its earlier days.

He clarified that their data indicated that when customers called, they were only waiting 60 seconds to speak with a customer support agent.

Anecdotal evidence from complaints, however, showed that this was not the case.

He took matters into his own hands when a staff member attempted to reassure him during a meeting that everything was fine and dandy.

"I have a saying which is: when the data and the anecdotes disagree, the anecdotes are usually right," he said during the podcast. It implies that you go look at the data rather than blindly following the anecdotes.

"Usually, the problem isn't that the data is being collected incorrectly, but rather that you're not measuring the correct thing."

He then called customer service to find out how long the wait would be, Bezos explained. He said that he and the team simply waited in silence while laughing.

Bezos went on to say that they had to wait ten minutes before they were connected, which was ten times longer than the data indicated. How embarrassing.

"It dramatically made my point that there was a problem with the data collection," he continued. We began measuring it correctly after that, which started a whole series of events. That is an illustration of telling the truth. It is uncomfortable to do that, but you must pursue the truth no matter how uncomfortable it is.

Social media users undoubtedly thought the entire stunt was funny.

"Imagine sitting in the boardroom in silence for ten minutes waiting for customer service to reach you after you just informed Jeff that the data indicates it is only sixty seconds and everything is fine," one user wrote.

And another added: “Imagine working in the call centre and Jeff rings you himself hahaha."