Are You Distracted By The Spider In Your Cellar?

The context for this (perhaps unusual) question was kindly provided by my wife.  She stopped by a local coffee shop and asked for a coffee and a pastry from the waitress who came to take her order.  The coffee duly arrived and my wife was informed that the pastry would follow shortly.  In the meantime, her waitress had to go down to the cellar, presumably to fetch something.  My wife heard her rush back upstairs exclaiming that there was a huge spider down there, and someone would have to deal with it for her.  The manager went down and took care of the situation but, in the excitement, her pastry was completely forgotten by her waitress.  When the bill came with a charge for the pastry my wife pointed this out and, for goodwill, the coffee shop also decided to waive the cost of the coffee.  Getting distracted was therefore costly for the business!

Translating this to a general business context, my question is ‘Do you have a spider in the cellar which is distracting you from the business of looking after your customers and clients?’

I can virtually guarantee that – if you are honest – you will know that sometimes you have been distracted from giving your customers or clients the best possible service.  What are you going to do about it?