Sunday, May 29, 2011

Confessions of a Complainer

Once upon a time, a child loved to complain about things in hope of changing the world. She would find fault in all kinds of products, services, (people), foods, stores, etc. Anyway, this was before the technological era heralded the concept of email. So how was this child supposed to complain? To whom would the complaints be directed? She went with the times.

The child began to write letters by hand and mail them out (using a stamp) to the appropriate companies. Since the child's voice was rather youthful, calling the companies wasn't much of an option. Scorn would not have been appreciated. Writing was an excellent alternative to calling, and so that's what the child did.

Believe it or not, I actually did that as a kid. I wrote tons of letters spewing forth every problem I ever had with any product. Lids that wouldn't close, lids that were too hard to open, shampoo that was too runny, toothpaste that seared off my taste buds, toys that fell apart, fruit cocktail that didn't include 1 of the ingredients, etc. Were those fun times! I would sit waiting excitedly for return mail. Sometimes I actually got coupons or a canned response. But I was missing that human response. What a pity that I couldn't talk to those pea-brained reps myself. I was deprived of long, twisty-turny conversations with Raj and Mohatma. I didn't know about the feature on most sites called live chat! Imagine!

Has anyone ever done anything like that as a child?

4 comments:

  1. I wish! I was always to shy to call...

    Sounds like good fun :)

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  2. I did write a few such letters as a child. I rarely write or call now; usually because I've got no guts for that. My loss, I know. Like I said, you're my hero.

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  3. I only did it as an assignment for school once - to practice writing a business letter.

    But now I'm much more brave and do it all the time - on the phone, live chat, email - and the results show that it's totally worth it!

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  4. If you're lacking guts or you're too worked up, just use the livechat or email options. Sometimes I use either of those two methods when my complaint borders on preposterousness and I don't want to burst out laughing while I'm speaking with a rep on the phone. Or if I don't want to contend with India.

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