Bofredrik From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 1234 times:
The classic:
A person is sitting in a restaurant and is thinking that the
steak on the plate is not what he/she expected. The comes
the waiter and asks: "Is everything ok?". And the answer is
often "Oh yes!". Why not often say "NO! This steak taste like
leather. Dry and very hard.".
I read comments on Skytrax about airlines. It is the same there.
Why not for example check with the crew if your vego meal is
onboard just after you enter the aircraft? Often is it not there.
"SO SEND AFTER MY MEAL THEN!".
Ronglimeng From Canada, joined Oct 2006, 598 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 1209 times:
Some people will never complain. Some people complain all the time.
For the discerning complainer (like myself!) it is worthwhile considering if the complaint will bring any improvement.
I was eating with friends a month ago and one of our party sent a salad back as the dressing was on the dish instead of on the side as requested. She got her second salad eventually but there was a considerable wait. Personally I didn't think it was worth the wait.
I think that in most cases there is probably only a narrow range where complaining will bring worthwhile improvement - better to just move on and try somewhere else the next time.
As far as checking for your special meal when you board - I don't think that is realistic. They're too busy at that time to deal with individual concerns like that.
BCAL From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 3384 posts, RR: 22 Reply 2, posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks 3 hours ago) and read 1191 times:
Simple explanations
Sometimes it can do more harm than good
It might not be appropriate - e.g. if you are at a restaurant and someone else is footing the bill, you would not want to embarrass/upset your host
It might not achieve anything positive
The way some firms/people today regard standards of service make complaining a waste of time
Other means might be more effective - e.g. writing a review on a website could harm the business more than a simple complaint if their standards are poor
Finally, some people just don't care if you complain
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
JGPH1A From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 1185 times:
Because customer service is a thing of the past. Back in the olden days, if you registered a polite complaint about some incident of mis-service, those responsible would do their best to correct and improve the situation. Nowadays, all you get is "Not my fault, mate" or whatever the local equivalent is, the slack-jawed blank-eyed shrug, and you are left to your own devices to sort it out. It's probably because customer-facing service staff just aren't paid well, and so are not motivated to go the extra mile, which is what real customer service is all about.
GoAround From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2003, 616 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 1149 times:
The worst thing about working in customer service is that people think you're insincere. Try working in a theme park and reassuring people that we actually *do* take their complaints seriously. They honestly are passed on, followed up, discussed and actioned as appropriate.
I personally don't think people complain enough. More businesses than we think take feedback seriously. It's an extremely useful way to learn what's going wrong.
Bofredrik From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 1128 times:
I was in a restaurant in Stockholm called "Berns".
We where at the balcony and had a view down on
the large dining area on the main floor. I saw a man
that complained about the wine after tasting it and
the waitress took the wine bottle, went behind the
bar, waited 30 seconds and then served the
same wine bottle again... Yes, i saw it 100 % from
where i was sitting. Amazing!
Quoting YOWza (Reply 4): My personal feeling is that people complain too much. But that's just me.
I pity people who go through life whining and the slightest inconvenience. When you're born into an insanely prosperous society, you very quickly acquire the habit of taking everything for granted. Nothing is.
If you're pissed about a meal not exactly meeting your specifications, or broken IFE (is it so hard to spend time with one's own thoughts?), or customer service not quite obsequious enough, or pits in your grapes, or too little channels on your hotel TV, than congratulations, you're a rich, spoiled Westerner.
Proposed solution: sell your house and spend a year backpacking through Africa to get yourself some perspective.
Oh fuck, I just realized I was whining about whiners...
Halls120 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (4 years 8 months 4 weeks ago) and read 1111 times:
Quoting Ronglimeng (Reply 1): Some people will never complain. Some people complain all the time.
Here's why I don't complain about a crappy piece of meat served to me in a restaurant. I received the following e-mail last Friday.
Quote: Good Morning Family, Friends and Colleagues -
As most of you are probably already aware, earlier this week I received some troubling news. I was able to negotiate a day away from the hospital and thought that I would take the opportunity to let you know where I am and where I am headed. I have more or less had a headache every day of my life for the last 15 years. Over time, I learned to recognize what activity caused what type of headache - dehydration, lack of sleep, frustration at work, etc. I had it checked out a few times and always got a clean bill of health. Over the last 10 months or so, I started getting a different type of headache - a type that I never had before. I would only get them in the afternoons and they would come on real strong and last for about 15 minutes. Sometimes, these headaches would cause my vision to blur. I could not pinpoint any activity that would trigger the events. I decided to get a check-up and scheduled a CT scan at Bethesda. I went there this past Sunday morning, had the scan, was told to proceed immediately to the Emergency Room and not to leave - not the standard, "OK, we will check this out and call you in a few days with the results" response that I was expecting.
Once in the ER, I was seen by a doctor who told me that I had a large mass in my brain that required immediate attention. Since that moment, I can not get the Arnold Schwarznegger line from Kindergarten Cop out of my head, "It's not a tumor." Except that it is. It is a fairly large tumor, about the size of a golf ball, located in the right, front part of my brain in the cavity that normally contains the cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF). The tumor is interfering with the normal flow of fluid and causing pressure on my brain (which is now my official excuse for any late or substandard work that I have submitted over the last six months). On Friday morning, I am having surgery to remove the tumor.
This is the second time in my career that I have faced a life-threatening situation (my first being a bout with testicular cancer in 1994). Once again, the outpouring of support and sympathy that [ ] and I have received is remarkably humbling and overwhelming and I can never truly thank all of you for it. I have walked this road once before and know full well what I face. Armed with that experience and knowledge, I am more than confident that I can successfully walk this path once again. There will most likely be some dark and difficult days in the coming months, but the storm always passes. During times of personal crisis like this, our organization is at its best and I am extremely grateful for that. Once again, I owe the [ ] a tremendous debt of gratitude that I can never repay.
When folks typically ask me "how are you doing?" or "how is it going?", my standard response is something like "life continues to treat me better than I deserve", or "I am just living the dream." I take my current set of circumstances as more proof that this is absolutely true and I do lead a charmed existence. In all likelihood, the tumor is benign, there are no indications of a primary tumor elsewhere in my body and this in not a reoccurrence of my previous cancer - all good news. This happened while I am stationed in the WASHDC area with access to the National Naval Medical Center - the one place that I would chose for this treatment - more good news. I am being treated by an entire team of neurosurgeons at the NNMC - a world class facility with great working relations/collaboration with NIH and the NCS, both literally right across the street (although the young LT neurosurgeon with the brain surgery PQS book in his hand makes me nervous from time to time). Although already large, the doctors feel that they can access the tumor and remove most, if not all, of it - again, great news. The tumor is in a brain cavity and has not penetrated the brain mass - great news! My recovery time coincides perfectly with the start of the college football season - perfect! The way I see it, I walked away from cancer once before no worse for the wear and I am about to walk away from a brain tumor - once again no worse for the wear. If that is not great luck, then I do not know what is. And while this will certainly alter our near-imminent wedding plans, I am still set to marry an amazing, wonderful, and beautiful woman - one that is far more than I ever deserved. Of course,[ ] has accused me of getting a brain tumor as an attempt to get out of the wedding and has told me that she will not allow that to happen. My last hope is to pretend that I forget how to say, "I do". Of course, the greatest risk is that if they have to remove too large of a portion of my brain, I will have to transition to the Aviation Community upon my recovery.
I will be returning to the hospital tomorrow morning. As such, I ask that you do not respond or reply to this, as I will not have time to read or write back. [ ] will keep everyone posted of my status as this progresses.
Having cancer is a lot like going through REFTRA (TSTA, TACT, CART, current acronym). You do not really learn anything new (except the latest techniques), gain any special insights, or gather up any special wisdom. What you do get is previously learned lessons driven home and reinforced. All of us know these life-lessons, but we tend to lose sight of them in the daily grind and minutiae everyday life: Don't blow off your annual check-ups; keep your will and personal affairs up to date; each day is a gift. Don't stay late to work on the "hot, urgent" tasking, but make it to your son's baseball game on time. There is nothing at work that is worth getting angry over. On the first day of school, drive your kids to school instead of getting into the office early to update that .ppt. Recycle and be a good environmental steward. Notre Dame Football sucks. OK, those last two are not germane to this issue, but I like to beat that drum anytime I think I have an audience.
I do not have access to the [ or ] global address lists, so please feel free to pass this along to folks that I have known and worked with over the years. and I thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes. My family and friendships are strong, my faith is strong, and my body is strong. I will emerge a better and stronger person because of this. Thanks again.
LTBEWR From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 11686 posts, RR: 8 Reply 9, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 23 hours ago) and read 1082 times:
Plenty of people complain, sometimes too many. Problem is that sometimes circumstances may make it impossible to deal with it then or even later. Then too, some businesses figure that there are always going to be a certain level of complaints, but that that you may not offer the quality or level of service you once did as isn't economic to the overall health of the company (like airlines). For some businesses, it might be cheaper to say screw it to the relatively few complainers then to keep everybody happy. In some circumstances, where else can one go anyway (like when have only 2 choices in a airline to most destinations from an airport). Far too often as well, you have employees and managers who have to 'go by the book' as if diverted from it, others might take advantage of it or they would get into trouble if they did so. Then you have the professional complainers who do so to get out of a bad financial decision, a poor choice in a consumer product or are trying to rip-off a business by not paying for a product or service. Then there are those who just don't want to make noise or complain as isn't their nature, blame themselves or figure it wouldn't do much good anyway.
PAHS200 From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 513 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 22 hours ago) and read 1067 times:
Quoting YOWza (Reply 4): My personal feeling is that people complain too much. But that's just me.
I was always told by my parents to deal with it.. It happens in school all the time the damn kids complain and complain and i just want to tell them to shut up.
not everything in life is going to be perfect or good so just take it with a grain of salt
ManuCH From Switzerland, joined Jun 2005, 2903 posts, RR: 52 Reply 11, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 999 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW HEAD MODERATOR
In my experience, people are complaining too much, and without giving any useful information. I work for an ISP, and too often I hear people starting the phone call to our customer care center with sentences like "I'm going to sue you", "this is ridiculous", "you don't know who I am, I know your CEO personally".
I mean, broadband DSL can break, and if it does, someone is going to fix it (usually within a week). But you can't expect for it to be fixed same-day when paying $5/month for the subscription. Same-day service is for people with a Service Level Agreement, paying many $100s or $1000+/month. This is stated clearly on the contract. But cursing at the call center agent is probably more fun than reading the contract.
So, if you complain, make sure you have a reason to do so, and please remain polite. Being rude only happens to upset the person on the other side, and possibly will yield to an even worse situation, with your case being treated, well, "differently"
767Lover From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 12, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 955 times:
Life experience totally shapes your perception of what is and is not important.
I no longer complain about things that are really only mildly irritating. If money is involved, I'll do it (for example, I recently filed a complaint against a storage company because of shoddy service/security of my stuff) but I will not send food back in a restaurant unless it is spoiled.
After dealing with a parent who has dementia for the past 6 years, and spending part of my weekends being physically assaulted by her when I'm trying to wipe feces from her body or wash her face (I have the bruises to prove it), I have learned which battles to fight and which ones not to. This kind of experience also teaches you how fleeting life is: I would give anything to have my mom back the way she was, and to have had her involved in things like my wedding.
So enduring a rude salesperson or a mistake on someone's behalf? Not an issue. In fact, I am grateful to have the ability to get away on an airplane trip, so I'm certainly not going to complain about it.
As a side note, I am amazed at how much time people in homeowners' associations seem to have. Around here a lot of them seem to fight everything, and as someone who can barely get to the drycleaners before clothes run out, I am baffled by this.
Sometimes I complain, but if it is something minor, like a salad dressing or something a bit wrong I will just do it for them to notice and will not ask for another plate, not worth the wait in my opinion. Since I have worked in Customer Service positions over the years, I know that sometimes it is not the fault of the person serving you or it might be a very tough day for them, people tend to forget. A simple sorry is enough for me most of the times as long as it is sincere. Fake sorries or the ones with attitude are the ones that I keep complaining about. Anyway, there are worse things out there than the wrong salad dressing or an overcooked piece of meat....
PS: By the way, why do you write your posts like poems, meaning only on the left side of the textbox?
Kmh1956 From Bermuda, joined Jun 2005, 3324 posts, RR: 9 Reply 14, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 949 times:
I deal with complaints all day long at the school where I work; mostly from mothers who don't work, married very well and have WAY too much time on their hands. These are also the mommies who have nannies to actually do the child-rearing for them, and on the rare occasion they show up at school for something it's very begrudgingly and with major attitude (while dressed in their expensive tennis whites and dripping in gold and diamonds).
I find that most complainers sound like whiny children who don't get their way. I wouldn't let my daughter whine when she was little; why on earth should I allow an adult to whine?
I tend not to be a complainer, because as my mother is so fond of saying "Whoever promised YOU a rose garden? It's life; we're not perfect; DEAL."
[Edited 2007-09-01 16:43:49]
'Somebody tell me why I'm on my own if there's a soulmate for everyone' :Natasha Bedingfield
TPAnx From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 1021 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 934 times:
If it's something major...like ordering steak and getting fish..yes, I'll complain. But I'd much rather compliment good
service. Last year, on a trip through the west, my wife and I were seated for dinner with a tour member who was sick.
(And who passed on a touch of her Norvo virus to me--!) She ran our waiter at the dining room in the Lodge at Zion ragged..wanted crackers...wanted soda,..wanted soda to go..could she see the chicken..but wasn't sure she wanted it...could he pack it to go.....and then left without leaving a tip! Throught it all, the guy served us very well. My wife and I made up for her lack of a tip..and when we got home, I wrote a letter to the manager .I was very surprised to get a letter back, thanking me for my comments, and letting me know that the waiter had been rewarded for going above and beyond.
For those of you FFers..complimentary letters used to count a great deal. If you wanted great service on a flight..all you had to say was..."you've really been great..can I get your name so I can write the airline about you? " I always followed through with a letter..
Bottom line...reenforce positive behavior! (Works well with kids, too!)
TPAnx
BristolFlyer From United Kingdom, joined May 2004, 1998 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 7 hours ago) and read 927 times:
There's nothing wrong with the occasional complaint about poor product or service, but then some people take it to extremes and let a slightly substandard experience ruin their day.
There are people in this world who can't afford to eat at a restaurant, some who can't afford to eat at all. Some people that can't eat properly due to medical reasons. Try remembering that when you're sending your salad back because the dressing was incorrectly applied.
We take too much for granted, and only realise that when reading a story like
Seb146 From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 8614 posts, RR: 19 Reply 17, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 905 times:
Before I complain about something, I put myself in the other person's place. If I go to a restaurant, I keep in mind the person bringing the food is paid minimum wage or barely above. The person bringing the food did not cook the food or place it on the plate. Therefore, if I order chicken and get steak, I will say something but word my request to let the waitperson know they did not make the mistake, but a mistake was made.
Also, when I do have a complaint, I do not have all the information. Last week, when I was coming back from Utah, there were three cell phones in the car all on AT&T network. I did not look carefuly at the coverage map before we left nor did I pick one up in SLC. When we crossed the time zone, the clocks on our cell phones changed to Central Time instead of Pacific time. When we got to the hotel for the night, I called AT&T to find out why. I found out that the less populated communities are the last to recieve the latest and best upgrades. That makes sense to me. Why should a company spend all that money in places for services that are rarely used? I did not get upset with the woman handling my call since she is not directly involved with upgrading software for Northern Nevada. I also learned something while talking to her because I was listening. I think that is a problem with customers is they don't always listen.
Wheel of morality turn, turn, turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn
6YJJK From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 18, posted (4 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 867 times:
I'm careful about where and when I complain. I've worked in a fast-food joint and I've heard things. I've also done things, though none of mine involved bodily fluids. It doesn't pay to piss off the people who are cooking your food. (By all means complain afterward.)
Let me tell you about our chilli sauce: This stuff was fierce. I usually did the washing-up at the end of the night, and if you were spraying out this sauce-gun and breathed at the wrong moment it could literally put you on the floor, gasping and in tears. From the customer's point of view, the two shots of the stuff in each burger was enough to warrant an extra-large drink.
So this bloke comes up to the counter late one evening f'ing and blinding because his chilli-burger isn't hot enough... "Sorry about that, sir, we'll make you another." And we did (or rather, I did, since I was on grills). Right, ya bastard - fourteen shots of the stuff. The burger was sliding off the bun, I put so much sauce in there. Slap it in the box, wipe the splashes off the outside, couple more shots, close the box, hand it over to front counter with a sly wink. "There you go - I'm really sorry. Hope you enjoy this one."
"Enjoy" wasn't the right word, exactly. His eyes were streaming from the first messy bite. You could see him go to rub them then realise his hands were covered in the stuff. All of us were lined up on the counter or leaning on the production bin, watching with smug grins - he knew exactly what we'd done. His drink was gone by the second bite. After the third he ran up, threw some money on the counter, and gasped, "Large Sprite." To his credit, he actually finished the damned thing - we were giving him the drinks in the end. And he was as nice as pie to us whenever he came in after that!
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