PART THREE

Dishing It Out and Taking It In
The Personal Side of Complaints

Although you may have some difficulty keeping your wits about you when a customer complains, the situation becomes much more complex when the feedback is aimed directly and specifically at you or is offered by someone close to you. A lot of people dish out attacks very well. In fact, they dish out even more whenever anyone comes close to criticizing them. Others don’t know how to protect themselves from such attacks.

It’s a delicate act to find the right balance between learning from feedback and protecting yourself from some people’s need to attack. Without awareness of our own behaviors, however, it’s very difficult to change, so well-founded criticism can help us to improve.

If all of us could commit to giving “well-wrapped” gifts when we complain, we would make the jobs of customer-facing staff a lot more pleasant. We also would make it possible for them to help us get our own needs met. In addition, well-delivered complaints to our friends, family, and colleagues would make it possible for us to stay connected to them. Everyone would win!