SIR GUESTLING THORN

Day 127

I have not ranted this week and I am not going to start now. I am trying to be upbeat and positive this week? 

I have looked for upbeat stories and articles but there are precious few at present. Maybe there just isn’t room to report them. We know that good things are happening and they don’t need to be reported in order to make us feel good. In my experience I have found most people are polite and if not kind then certainly not nasty. I have met very few people who are deliberately rude or insulting. I have met boring, stupid and ignorant people but they are not necessarily horrible just best avoided. 

When I used to manage stores and showrooms people who wanted to complain (not often) just wanted someone to listen to their problem. I would do so and I never interrupted or made a comment. Once that had finished I would ask what they would like me to do about it? 9 times out of 10 they had not thought that far ahead and actually did not know. I would give them options or if the complaint was not justified, say so clearly and firmly but politely. I worked with a manager who delighted in confrontation with complaining customers as though it was a personnel insult that they should have a problem! He nearly came a cropper one day when the woman he was arguing with quite nastily, called her son in. He was a large man and very quietly pointed out that he would not have his mother treated so poorly and if he did not apologise he would be delighted to “persuade” him. At this point two of us took him to one side and told him in no uncertain terms that he had better do so and he had been in the wrong from the start. He rapidly backtracked and did so.

There is an old well known saying “You can catch more flies with honey” and it is true. The key to any “confrontation” is to listen and actually hear what the other person is saying. It is a very difficult lesson to learn and it took me many years to learn it.

Treat others how you would want to be treated, another saying that has merit. I could go on but my point is be nice, it costs nothing and is easy. I have often got myself in trouble because of impatience and have usually made a fool of myself. There have been times when a more aggressive stance is justified and it needs to be handled that way. Smile and be nice!

Stay well