When people ask me what it takes to be good marketer I always reply that a key to my success has been the ability to pay attention to how people behave and form models to explain the behavior of individuals and society. Interestingly, this is probably what it takes to be a good comedian, too. Constantly paying attention and analyzing the world is a lot of work, unfortunately, and one of the “models” of behavior I’ve noticed is that companies often resort to rules and processes to guide people’s behavior so that they have to think less. The objective of process is to improve service quality and consistency. Unfortunately by dumbing down behavior, a “good” process can prevent firms from creating a great service. Let me share one example from my experience at the Delta Sky Club last week.

I am a very frequent flyer and for years now have been paying a few hundred dollars to be a part of the Delta Sky Club, which formerly was called the Crown Room. The Sky Club is a great value for someone such as me who spends too much time in airports. It provides a place to relax, free Wi-Fi, plentiful drinks, and helpful staff. But I’ve noticed something odd in my weekly check-ins at these air travel oases. Until a few months ago, the staff at the welcome desk would scan my boarding pass and welcome me in. But recently they have also been asking for my driver’s license or passport when I hand over my boarding pass. But why?

Here’s the thing: Except for maybe one or two airports in the U.S., the Sky Club is located in the main concourse after you go through the increasingly rigorous security check. That means that a trained expert in the front lines of terrorism protection has already double-checked that your ID matches your boarding pass. So why would Delta need to do this again? In fact, the boarding pass is printed with the words “SKY CLUB” and Delta takes the additional step of scanning the boarding pass, which brings up your personal account.

When I went through this extra step last week I asked the Delta representative at the desk about the purpose of this ID check. I made sure to let her know that I was not complaining, just curious. She had no clear idea why she was doing this step hundreds of times per day. That’s always a danger sign, by the way. If the person on the front lines of customer service can’t tell the customer what’s going on you have an issue. She then vaguely recalled something and mentioned that, “We added this process because people can do things with these print-at-home boarding passes.” OK, now I’m getting nervous: The TSA is approving people who might have fake boarding passes! And people are taking the time and risk to fake boarding passes just to get a free beer and Wi-Fi at the Sky Club?!

There might very well be a logical reason for Delta’s double-check of IDs, but I doubt it. Rather, I believe this is a process that someone instituted because there was some small chance at gaming the system. Things such as this happen often in businesses that are used to a lack of competition or service quality. And most airlines fall squarely into this zone. Someone comes up with this idea in a meeting and the group approves it without talking about the fact that it is at best pointless and at worst a signal that Delta does not trust its most frequent flyers. Power corrupts absolutely.

But the other lesson here is that new processes should not be taken on lightly. When employees are told what to do and how to do it even the best of them turn off their brains and go on cruise control. It was true of factory workers at the turn of the 20th century who suffered under Taylorism, and it is true of service providers in multi-billion-dollar companies today.