One of my New Year's Resolution's for 2018 is this: don't moan, complain.
What's the difference?
We're very good, as a society, at moaning. Social media has made it even easier to bend our friends' ears about the latest irritation that we've had to suffer: long queues; poor service; sub-standard goods; cold food; inept staff; rude checkout assistants... the list goes on. And we think that sharing our dreadful experience with our friends will avenge us on the service provider - we "warn" our friends against giving their money to the same company and encourage them to support their competitors instead.
That is not complaining; that's moaning.
Moaning: telling everyone about a terrible experience - except the people who (1) caused your inconvenience and/or (2) are in a position to fix your situation or provide redress.
Complaining: approaching the person who provided the poor service; the lousy product; the long wait or the cold food, and asking them to please fix it.
I don't tend to complain - I think it's rude; I don't want to cause a scene; I don't want to be an inconvenience; I think should just tolerate it and make it a character-building opportunity.
However, I think it's time to make a change, and - when necessary - to complain instead of biting my tongue (I'd like to think I don't moan much, but the principle is the same). Some stores, cinemas and so on ask for feedback - some shops will enter you for a prize draw if you do - which is a good place to start, but how about this: if you think you're going to go home and then tomorrow tell your friends how bad this place/shop/meal was today, why not tell the staff today? Or at least contact their complaints department so that they can actually do something about it. Make a difference, so that they can make a difference too.
What's the difference?
We're very good, as a society, at moaning. Social media has made it even easier to bend our friends' ears about the latest irritation that we've had to suffer: long queues; poor service; sub-standard goods; cold food; inept staff; rude checkout assistants... the list goes on. And we think that sharing our dreadful experience with our friends will avenge us on the service provider - we "warn" our friends against giving their money to the same company and encourage them to support their competitors instead.
That is not complaining; that's moaning.
Moaning: telling everyone about a terrible experience - except the people who (1) caused your inconvenience and/or (2) are in a position to fix your situation or provide redress.
Complaining: approaching the person who provided the poor service; the lousy product; the long wait or the cold food, and asking them to please fix it.
I don't tend to complain - I think it's rude; I don't want to cause a scene; I don't want to be an inconvenience; I think should just tolerate it and make it a character-building opportunity.
However, I think it's time to make a change, and - when necessary - to complain instead of biting my tongue (I'd like to think I don't moan much, but the principle is the same). Some stores, cinemas and so on ask for feedback - some shops will enter you for a prize draw if you do - which is a good place to start, but how about this: if you think you're going to go home and then tomorrow tell your friends how bad this place/shop/meal was today, why not tell the staff today? Or at least contact their complaints department so that they can actually do something about it. Make a difference, so that they can make a difference too.
No comments:
Post a Comment