No poll because I still don’t know how to do it, but I want to get some opinions. I’m very willing to write a strongly worded email of complaint when something is off. To the point that Dean Koontz and I went around and around about revolvers dropping brass and how it jarred me out of my disbelief.
For the record, DK’s revolvers don’t spew brass in his books anymore.
So, seeing as how I’m willing to put my objections in writing or talk to the manager if I’m not happy with the service, I think that I’m obligated to write/email/speak to the PTB for good service.
Last week, I got an email telling me that I had an over due book at the library. I knew that I had returned it, so called and asked the nice lady to go and look for it. She found it, checked it back in, took the fines away and then called me to tell me that all was good.
I sent a happy email to the Library Director about how nice that lady was, and got a thank you from the LD and a gushing email from the nice lady who helped me.
Everytime I send happy emails, the responses are happy and surprised.
Probably because basic competence is seems to be lacking in many of my interactions with service people. I want to reward the good ones.
Besides, who wouldn’t like their boss to come to them with a compliment? It makes makes the boss happy, the worker is happier and its just a nice thing to do.
Going by your response, I’m guessing that most people don’t bother. Thank you for your reply.
Basically, you’re praising someone for DOING THEIR JOB!!! If people are so fragile they need this constant validation, it’s no wonder Japan, China and India are soon to eclipse us.
I remember when stewardesses on flights were friendly and smiled. Well, those days are mostly gone. However, there was a very nice and friendly flight attendant on a recent flight. When I ordered a beer, I mentioned this to her, and told her she had a beautiful smile. Well, let me make it clear, I am an old fart, and I wasn’t making a move on her. When she returned with the beer, she wouldn’t allow me pay for it. So yes, tell them when they do good. Everyone is happier.
I think that we might not be understanding each other properly. Are you in the US? If so, lets talk about tipping. If my waitperson drops the menu and walks away because I’m a single woman who won’t tip well, I don’t tip well.
If my server is attentive and makes sure that my drink is topped off, I tip very well. The waitperson who noticed that that I was carrying a book and moved me to a table with better light got tipped half the cost of my meal.
Ok, so some people have never worked service. Nice. I try to remember to email and compliment when I feel someone has done a great job. During Christmas shopping, the cashier at a store (where I was buying a gift my family was going to eat), noticed that the secure seal pop was up. It was busy, but he stopped and asked if I knew it was popped. I didn’t. I wrote a nice letter to the store, b/c I didn’t want us all to be barfing over Christmas.
As my Sainted Mother said, “That is kinda his job, but it’s easy not to care and not do your job.”
I got compliments and it always made me feel great that people noticed I was busting it.
Whenever somebody goes above and beyond what I think their job entails I send a letter to their supervisor.
Why not? It makes them feel good, it makes them look good to management, it makes management happy to have a compliment instead of a complaint.
What I bolded is important, guess I have different expectations than others. You really think it’ll positively impact a boss’s opinion of his employee if they did what’s expected of them, or only slightly more?
Yes. Which is to say, I do neither. I have, on rare occasions, complained about a company’s product or policy. Never about about an individual. Incompetent employees tend to have short tenures without any help from me and hey, everyone’s entitled to a bad day every now and then, right?
Complimenting and/or thanking the individual for their excellent service? By all means. Writing a letter to their manager? Completely unnecessary. I am also consistent with my philosophy. Every job I’ve ever held has put me in direct contact with customers. Every time I’ve ever been asked to whom they should send a compliment of my service (which was always preceded by a direct compliment and/or thank you), I’ve returned their thanks and told them it wasn’t necessary.
Aside from a few mismatched positions that didn’t last very long, I am exceptionally good at my job. Thank you for noticing and acknowledging it. You needn’t tell management. They already know. I expect the same is true for all employees you may feel compelled to praise to their manager. In the rare cases where this is not the case, I doubt that a letter will make a difference.
Honestly and without malice to anyone posting in this thread, I think the “Betty is so awesome and a credit to your company!” letter writers get a lot more satisfaction out of the process than anyone else does.
I send praise letters more often. I’ll send a complaint letter to the top person at a company as the last step before threatening legal action, otherwise I think complaints are a waste of time.
I’m not sure I’ve ever written to complain about an individual, although on a couple of occasions I’ve written to complain about something that has happened, e.g. my frequent flyer miles expiring a day early.
My one letter of praise was to an airline with regard to a flight attendant. I once had to fly back to college while suffering from food poisoning or some sort of stomach bug, and spent most of the flight shivering and vomiting. (Luckily for the other passengers, it was a mostly empty flight and no one was seated near me.) The flight attendant brought me a blanket and kept checking on me to bring me more barf bags, water, etc. I was in such bad shape that I don’t think I managed to thank her at the time, but a day or two later I wrote an email to the airline to say that she’d been very helpful and attentive.
Like TriPolar I send more praise cards than I do complaint letters. Not everybody does their job really well. When somebody stands out I once-in-a-blue moon want to let their supervisors know. Can’t hurt, and might make somebody happy.
When I have a gripe about something I usually have no problem saying something about it right then. To actually send a letter (it’s in writing!) I’ve only rarely done. I don’t want to adversly affect somebody’s employment (no matter how much they’ve pissed me off) in a permanent way. I don’t know what’s going on with them and don’t feel like a stranger should tip the scales in a bad way. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever written a letter about an individual.
My last complaint letter, a year or so ago, was to a frozen food company about how bad their product was. They sent me a bunch of coupons which I gave away. I doubt seriously if they tried to improve. I think I wasted a stamp.
It really does - typically such praise goes up the entire chain. People are much more prone to complain than compliment, so praise has a much larger impact.
As for the OP’s question: I’m more prone to send praise than complaints, as even basic competence seems to grow more and more scarce and needs nurturing.
A couple of years ago, a friend’s wheel chair was slipping a bolt, so I went to Home Depot and asked the nice guy where I could find locktight. The nice and trying to be helpful guy had no idea what it was, and when I explained how it worked, the kid thought it was such a wonderful thing that he was going to buy it to fix his truck.
I sent an email to the manager, not complainging about the ignorance, but praising the worker for his help. The last time I was in that store, the worker was waring a “Manager” tag.
Seriously? You wrote a letter to the manager, praising a Home Depot employee who had never heard of Loctite? For what? Not being a dick to you? Letting a customer train him?
Please explain exactly how this newly crowned manager helped you find the correct Loctite product for your application, having never heard of it prior to your introduction. I hope he’s better at managing people than he is about knowing shit about things that are sold at Home Depot.
As often, probably not; but yes, I send praise letters.
I do agree with the OP. As I’m willing to write a complaint letter for poor customer service, I’m just as willing to write a compliment letter for great customer service.
A few times, that confused the store. It’s telling when a store doesn’t have a way to say that their employees are doing a good job and only have a way to report them when they’re not.
I do if I receive some form of “special” treatment, particularly if the person is a lowly shitkicker or very young and likely to benefit from my efforts. At work I usually copy in the boss of the person I am thanking for some service that was performed above and beyond etc. Same rules - the lower on the food chain you are the more likely I am to do it.
In the case of the OP I would take the way the parties responded to my email as evidence that my choice of actions was exactly right. Presumably the library director would have been dismissive if the LD considered the actions mundane.