Will you call or email if a product or service does not meet your expectations, will you if the product is meeting or exceeding your expectations?

I write letters, emails now, to manufactures and service providers all the time, probably about a 90-10 split between positive and negative, I have been doing it for years. The first letter I remember writing was in probably 1977 and it was to the Company that was producing Brawny paper towels, Georgia Pacific owns the name now but I do not think they did then. Brawny had just hit the market and they had some pretty outlandish claims in their commercials. As a 12 year old kid I decided to put the Brawny towels through the paces to see just how they actually held up. I guess I was beginning to realize, even at that young age, that television advertising is mostly overblown and not true. My Mom used to say, do not believe everything you see on television. So I was off with my paper route money to buy a roll of Brawny paper towels. By the way I was just as weird as a kid as I am now and I recognize and openly admit that. So I ran through the tests I saw on the commercial and then some of my own and I was surprised that the towel while not meeting all the claims actually performed very well. I wrote the company a letter telling them so, they responded with a positive letter and come coupons for free Brawny paper towels.

I remember writing to Puffs when they came out with the fabulous product, Puffs Plus with Lotion. I had a horrible cold and my nose was raw with blowing and sneezing - voila, I found Puffs Plus with Lotion. What a great product and after the first day my nose felt much better. I wrote them a letter telling them so, again in return I received a nice letter back with some coupons for more of their product. I have written to so many companies I cannot even begin to make a list. My most recent was just a week or so ago to the Colgate folks, this was in the form of an email. For the first time in my life I actually had a plastic tube of Colgate Total burst open on the seam. Since toothpaste is so expensive, I got some metal tape and attempted a repair, it also failed and the Bride indicated it was time to throw it away. I was somewhat disappointed because I had written to Colgate a couple of years ago to tell them what a great product they have, the contents and the container with the flip lid. After venting my frustrations about the poor quality of the manufacturing processes they have in place and suggestions for some additional quality assurance steps they may be able to implement I heard back from them. They indicated that they had indeed been having some problems with the manufacturing process and they recognized the breakdown to be on the QA side, enclosed were some coupons for free tubes of toothpaste as well as coupons for many of their other products.

So all that got me to thinking, why is it we (as a society) are more quick to say something when we are dissatisfied than when we are satisfied. We see examples of this everywhere in life, the clerk at the grocery is not fast enough we take it out on her. When was the last time you thanked the clerk, or better yet told their boss, when the express lane was speedy and kept moving at a good clip. If the plumber comes out and accidently leaves a mark on the hallway carpet, we are likely to go apoplectic, but when he comes out on Sunday evening and just gets it done do we call or write his boss to properly thank him or her, probably not. What about some of the most taken for granted service providers, ones you are not directly paying money too. Folks like the Mail Man, if he leaves you box open and your mail gets wet probably but he tirelessly brings your mail 6 days a week. What about the garbage man, the lawn debris man and the recycle dude, I used the males because those folks for me are males. If they drop, and leave, a bit of debris at the end of your driveway sure you call the city and complain. But do you thank them or call their boss to thank them properly when you do spring cleaning and put a humongous pile and they quietly pick it up, in the rain sometimes.

Everyone likes to be recognized for doing a good job, even if you do not want to admit it you enjoy being recognized for doing a good job. No one I knows likes being pounded and having any little accident or flaw pointed out, at least no one I know does. So why do we have such little patience for others when they make a mistake? I am quicker to point out good things than I am to point out bad, it is not so easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and recognize that maybe they had something happen that day that has them off their game. I know that I have had situations that caused me to be off my game, most would not consider anyone else having the same situation. We have come to expect leniency for ourselves in that situation but are so stingy handing out leniency for others when they do not meet our expectations. I am not pigeon holing everyone here but my experience has been more folks are like that than not. In my own small way, I try to give back by commenting, to the company, to the people and their bosses when I receive good service, at least when the service meets my expectations. This is another reason I make between 120-150 dozen cookies every year around Christmas time. We give a tin of cookies to the folks who have provided us service throughout the year. Our Doctors and Dentists, our garbage collectors and mailmen, our gas station attendants and the pizza delivery folks and the list goes on. It is a simple way to say thank you and it really is not enough but it is more than most do for them.

So the next time your pizza arrives at your house and it is hot and good say thank you, take a moment to call the company and tell the manager that it was good, so the makers were on their game and it was hot, so the driver was on their game. That will only take about 1 minute but it will make their day.