Analysis of Marc Gaetano Interview of Mrs. Lupien
The call to arrange an interview with Mr. Lupien by Marc Gaetano resulted in his discovery that Mr. Lupien has died the previous day. I believe he should have ended the call by saying he was Mr. Lupien’s financial advisor and he would call back at a more appropriate time. Instead, Gaetano talked to Mrs. Lupien who is effect is a “new” client. Despite Mrs. Lupien’s emotional state of grief, Gaetano spontaneously says, “It’s a good thing we didn’t cancel his insurance last week.” This creates higher levels of emotion in Mrs. Lupien, understandably, and is information that is irrelevant and poorly timed at this point in time. Gaetano tells Mrs. Lupien to “call him” if she needs anything and then waits two weeks before contacting Mrs. Lupien to arrange an interview. I think two weeks was too long to wait considering the situation, and Mrs. Lupien was extremely hesitant about the necessity of such a meeting. Gaetano assumes when Mrs. Lupien asks if the office is easily accessible that she is talking about “parking” – an assumption that will cost him much at the time of the interview. Gaetano does a poor job of preparing for the interview in the sense that he infers things about Mrs. Lupien and does not realize the scenario will be one of conflict. He should know this from her emotional demeanor, her tone of query during the phone conversations, and descriptions of her behavior and harsh attitude in his previous meeting with Mr. Lupien.
Gaetano’s assumption about Mrs. Lupien costs him a great deal of good will because of her handicap. She is angry and red-faced when she arrives due to an insensitive security guard. Her nonverbal communication is even more apparent in the way she stares at Gaetano’s face when she mentions “trust.” Gaetano tries to adapt to the client’s perspective, but his attempts at multi-modal communication fail when he ...