I broke my new year’s resolution today.
I was at the dentist having my teeth cleaned and the young woman scraping my teeth was a terrible communicator. I just never knew where she expected me to turn my head, or why I had to get in the closet that turned out to be an x-ray machine. She was pushing and pulling me around like she was the detective and I the fresh collar. .
My new year’s resolution was to let no poor service experience go unconfronted. That’s right. When I resolve to do something I don’t waste my time on the little things. I go big and bold. The problem was, I wanted to make it out of there in time to go for a bike ride. I also didn’t trust myself to stick to the second part of my resolution, which was to provide constructive feedback politely. The words wouldn’t come to me, only the image of me yanking the scraper out of her hands and poking it into her robust and healthy gums. I just sat there, and took my mind to a happier place. It was all over quickly and I made it to my bike ride.
That’s the trouble with my resolution. If we all confronted every transgression of manners and breach of service standard, nobody would get anything done. I am probably somebody’s poor service experience myself. A non-returned call, a flip email response, the proverbial dropped ball.
Then again, you have to draw the line somewhere. One can’t just take it all the time right? Am I the only one concerned about these issues?
Have a pleasant evening and thanks for stopping by-
Juancho
I realize one must pick one’s battles, so I decline to get into it with you on this.
Come on, is this battle not pick worthy?
Darn. And I liked your dentist office so much. I think maybe a short note to the dentist might be in order here. How else will he know?
My battle yesterday was finding a way to heat my studio in a marketplace that’s ceasing to function — a/c contractors who lectured me that I would dare to ask them to install a unit I didn’t buy from them, while they wanted to soak me for 4 x as much money, Home Depot who just sold out of the unit I wanted, Lowe’s who had nothing, and no one in the store who cared that I was walking out empty-handed. And don’t get me started on the medical care here with home health nurses who won’t use effective medicine because it cuts them out, a medical bed salesman who decides to try to run our medical care in order to soak Medicare for an expensive but unneeded bed. Juancho, I think a letter-writing business is calling us.
All right. I will gather my pens and paper.
A busy year of service-industry confrontation sounds like fun.
My “more Frisbee golf” now seems so lame.