Tuesday, September 22, 2015

If you run across a person who just can't be pleased

John Scalzi tells a story about applying for an Ombudsperson position:
One part of the process for being considered for the job was an interview with a selection committee, which featured members of the faculty, administration and student body, who asked me (and presumably the other candidates) questions and offered hypothetical issues to resolve. It was during one of the hypotheticals, the details of which are not especially important, that I was confronted with a hypothetical student who simply wouldn’t be happy with any outcome...
Read the rest here

An interesting comment: "I remember a tactic I heard about once in the context of customer service: ask the unhappy customer what would make them happy. It puts the responsibility back on them, and they usually come up with something that you can actually give them."

and another comment, the flip side of that:

"Years ago I somehow fell into the habit of trying to figure out what it was I wanted before I went to complain. Did I want my money back? Did I want a replacement? An apology? A change in policy? I don’t always get what I ask for but I often do and found that the whole process is much more pleasant if I don’t make the person I’m complaining to do the emotional work of trying to figure out how to fix it for me."

5 comments:

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Makes a lot of sense!

Irene Latham said...

Hmmm, what will make us happy...or asking another what will make them happy. I'm thinking conflicts might be resolved a lot less painfully if we spend more time figuring this out. Thanks for the reminder.

Keri said...

Thanks for sharing this. Timely and helpful!

Becky Shillington said...

Scalzi's words are so wise, Tabatha, as are the other thoughts you have presented here. I especially like the idea of figuring out what you want before you complain...sometimes it may not be what you THINK you wanted, after all!

HWY said...


Excellent advice. Now if we could just get that (usually young) person in the store to take it and not act like we're lepers holding a bomb, it would be much, much better and we wouldn't be walking out of the store feeling like we don't count.