straw that broke the camel's back

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The idiom the straw that broke the camel's back is from an Arabic proverb about how a camel is
loaded beyond its capacity to move or stand.
[1]
This is a reference to any process by which
cataclysmic failure a broken back! is achieved by a seemin"ly inconse#uential addition, a
sin"le straw. This also "ives rise to the phrase $the last%final straw$, used when somethin" is
deemed to be the last in a line of unacceptable occurrences. &ariations include $the straw that broke
the donkey's back$, the $melon that broke the monkey's back$, the $feather that broke the camel's
back$, and the $straw that broke the horse's back$.
(ne of the earliest published usa"es of this phrase was in )harles *ickens's Dombey and
Son 1+,+!, where he says $As the last straw breaks the laden camel's back$, meanin" that there is
a limit to everyone's endurance, or everyone has his breakin"-point. *ickens was writin" in the
nineteenth century and he may have received his inspiration from an earlier proverb, recorded
by Thomas Fuller in his Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs as $'Tis the last feather that breaks the
horse's back$. .ark Twain also used a variation of this phrase in his book The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer 1+/0!, $this final feather broke the camel's back$ Twain /1.!
In other languages[edit]
The e#uivalent proverb in the followin" lan"ua"es rou"hly translates to $the drop that made the cup
overflow$.
Afrikaans as dit is die laaste druppel wat die emmer laat oorloop
Arabic as 123456 178 9:;< =>56 ?@A56
)atalan as La gota que va fer vessar el got
)hinese as
)roatian as kap koa e prelila !a"u
)Bech as tohle byla posledn# kapka a poh$r p%etekl
*anish as dr&ben der fik b'geret til at spilde over
*utch as de druppel die de emmer doet overlopen
Cstonian as viimane piisk karikas
FinnishD as korsi oka katkaisi kamelin sel(n
French as )*est la goutte d*eau qui fait d+border le vase
Eerman as der Tropfen, der das -ass .um /berlaufen bringt
Ereek as 0 1234563 789 :;<;=>?1; 28 782@A?
Fun"arian as a. utolsB )sepp a poh$rban
Febrew as CDEF GE HI JGKK KLF
Gtalian as la go))ia )he fe)e trabo))are il vaso
Hersian as I1J 9<KL MNO PKL QRKS T NOKS UV1W 9@X YKV Z[\ ]^_^W `a b6 ]^c1d ea1fg ]h ijkS M6N[l ]m n@[\
Io@S
Holish as kropla, ktBra pr.elaMa ).arN gory).y
Hortu"uese a "ota de p"ua #ue feB transbordar o copo
qussian as OPQRSTUVV WXORV OSYSOPRUZRX [X\] ^SYOSUZV
qomanian as pi)atura )are a umplut paharul
rpanish as la gota que )olmB el vaso
rwedishD as droppen som fi)k b(garen att rinna _ver
TamilD as Peeli pey sagadum a)h)hu irum appandam Saala miguthu peyin
Turkish as barda`a tabaran son damla
&ietnamese as Gict nde) lfm trfn ly
References[edit]
1. Jump up ^
The camel, the straw and 5 lessons on customer
experience improvement
)ontributorD )rai" qeid
HostedD s/%st%ts1, 1tDssDss A. C*T
ate this !rticle" #5.$ %tars & ' (otes)
1
t
u
,
v
Ta"sD wusiness Hrocess .ana"ement x )ustomer Cyperience x )rai" qeid x )ustomer Cyperience
Transformation x Hrocess .ana"ement
Gn every process we have customer interaction points. Fow well we mana"e these $moments of truth$
with our customers influences their levels of loyalty towards the firm.
zoyal customers spend more and are more likely to recommend the firm to friends or collea"ues so
makin" customers more loyal should be a ma{or focus - and to do this we need to look at process from a
customer eyperience perspective. Fow should we do this|
When we look at processes we must take an outside-in view. The process does not start and end at the
front door of the or"anisation. Take, for eyample, the eyperience of "oin" on holiday. The fli"ht is a small
part of the customer eyperience and an airline that understands how the fli"ht fits into the overall
customer eyperience will be well ahead of the "ame. Gt's up to or"aniBations to influence and mana"e as
much of the process as they can outside of their traditional view of the process.
.ana"in" moments of truth is critical. Cach interaction with a customer has a different level of impact on
customer dissatisfaction and conse#uently loyalty.
Please dont break my back!
CyampleD for the last couple of years G have been orderin" my "roceries throu"h Woolworths online and in
the last couple of years Woolworths online have made a mistake with every sin"le order G have received.
}sually it's only a couple of items which is a minor dissatisfaction and not enou"h to make me either
switch to a competitor or to trud"e to the supermarket myself. Fowever, minor dissatisfactions have a
cumulative effect which can break a relationship with the firm.
)onversely, positive moments of truth can help to reduce the dissatisfaction that builds up. After G
complained and said G was "oin" to stop orderin" with them Woolworths "ave me a credit and refunded
my delivery fee ~ which, like pourin" water on a fire, tamped it down for some time until the neyt event to
tri""er dissatisfaction...which wasn't far off...
G then received a delivery where all of the froBen foods were missin". G contacted Woolworths and
received a cut and paste email sayin" that they'd refund the missin" items - this only inflamed my
dissatisfaction before a couple of weeks later G received none of my fruit and ve" half of the order!.
)ue the straw point.
The straw point is the final incident of dissatisfaction that leads to the termination of the relationship with
the company - it is $the straw that breaks the camels back$. All loyalty is broken. For me the straw point
was when G called the Woolworths call centre 1s minutes after receivin" my delivery to see if my fruit and
ve" was in the truck and G received a messa"e sayin" that $due to unforseen circumstances the call
centre is now closed$. After which G sent the followin" terse emailD
$Fi - please refund the items marked with a cross which we did not receive. ou will note this includes all
of the fruit and ve". G called your call centre but you are stran"ely closed. We will be shoppin" with )oles
online from this point forward if only you cared about losin" a customer!$
G did receive a response the neyt day - yet another cut and paste sayin" that the missin" items would be
refunded. And G was ri"ht, they didn't care to lose me as a customer - a family of 0 who spend in the
re"ion of tsk a year in their supermarket.
ro what lessons can or"anisations learn to avoid the straw point|
*esson +1"
zook at the process from the outside-in - look at the entire customer eyperience
*esson +'"
Gdentify all of your customer interaction points in the process
*esson +,"
Gdentify the dissatisfaction impact level in the event that the interaction "oes wron"
*esson +-"
qeduce the number of customer interaction points to reduce the probability of thin"s "oin" wron"
*esson +5"
(ptimiBe the customer interaction points that are left - focus on reducin" the customer's level of effort.
We are all customers, so do unto them as you would eypect yourself.
But what do you think? Do you have other suggestions on how to improve the customer
experience?