Don't Be An Asshole When Something Goes Wrong

My business cards were delivered 3 days early! Woo-hoo.

But they were trimmed off-center, which looks unprofessional. Boo-hoo.

PSPrint has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So I called to complain. Here’s how the phone call went:

George: “Hello, this is George with PSPrint, how can I help you?”
Me: “Hi, George, happy holidays!”
George: “Same to you.”
Me: “By the way, I just want to say I love PSPrint. You guys kick ass! Okay, here’s the problem, the business cards I received were trimmed off-center.”

George ended our phone chat with “Thanks for being cool about it all.”

I could have been an asshole about my complaint and just jumped down his throat about the messed-up print job – that’s what most people do. But why. I’m sure George has been hearing complaints, irate customers and foul language all day long about messed-up jobs.

I’m nice when I need to complain because I stand out to the person handling my complaint. Instead of George feeling battered and alienated, he believes in my cause. We’re working on this together as a team. Sure, it’s his job to make things right, but I don’t need to be an asshole to state the facts of the mistake. Because being an asshole ruins my day as well.