# Mild pitting - writing an essay every time you do something **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2018, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168 "2018-11-27T18:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jonathanrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@jonathanrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonathanrace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/21 "2018-11-29T12:23:16Z")
It’s the neediest thing. Can you imagine if this happened in a real world shop. “And here’s your change” “Thanks” “Could you take a moment to tell me how I did?” / “Did I do ok today?” / “How was my performance?!?” ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/22 "2018-11-29T14:18:45Z")
I don’t mind the surveys since I can ignore them if I’m in the mood to do so. The thing that bugs me is when you’ve called up a company’s help/complaint line, at the end of the conversation the person helping you asks you to stay on the line for a survey, and makes a point of asking you if he’s given you five-star service, and will you say so on the survey. I don’t think I’d encountered this before this year, but during the past year I’ve gotten that a hell of a lot of times. It’s annoying as hell, and no matter how helpful they’ve been up to that point, that’s when the call ends. No survey for you, bucko. ---
**Author:** ![jonathanrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@jonathanrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonathanrace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/23 "2018-11-29T18:39:52Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I don’t mind the surveys since I can ignore them if I’m in the mood to do so. > > The thing that bugs me is when you’ve called up a company’s help/complaint line, at the end of the conversation the person helping you asks you to stay on the line for a survey, and makes a point of asking you if he’s given you five-star service, and will you say so on the survey. > > I don’t think I’d encountered this before this year, but during the past year I’ve gotten that a hell of a lot of times. It’s annoying as hell, and no matter how helpful they’ve been up to that point, that’s when the call ends. No survey for you, bucko. I think that’s the way forward. I think if companies started to see how much the request at the end undoes all of the good up til that point they would start to tone it down a little. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/24 "2018-11-29T20:15:21Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Even the most thoughtfully constructed customer surveys ultimately come off like a clingy ex asking why you left, and then not accepting the answer and asking again. > > If you don’t give them a 5, then they ask what they could have done better. (I dunno, carried me to my car?) > > The worst if you do have a legitimate complaint, they want to have someone contact you. If you go down that road, you get another survey on their interactions. GAAA! > > The unfortunate aspect is that often some sort of employee incentive is tied directly to what ratings we provide. This doesn’t take into account that different individuals have different strategies for identifying excellence, vs those who think in a more binary way - did the product work as described yes/no? Lyft is bad in this way - if you don’t give the driver a 5, the app won’t let you go unless you give his or her failings in great detail. I think this kind of thing inflates the scores, since unless there is a real issue giving 5s is just simpler than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/25 "2018-11-29T20:16:24Z")
> [@Steve\_McQwark](#): > > This was good… > > but this deserves recognition as well. Sorry, you didn’t provide enough feedback. Please write 100 words at least on the quality of these posts. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/26 "2018-11-29T20:35:50Z")
I took my car to the Toyota service center. I did one survey after I paid. When I get home, I notice an Email from Toyota asking me to take another survey. At the time, I blew it off thinking: “This Email doesn’t apply to me, I’ve already taken their survey”. Well, about a week later I get a phone call from Toyota asking me if I would please take the survey. When I explained to the guy I already took the survey at their shop, his response was: “Yeah, we do two surveys. The one you took at the shop, was for the shop. The one in your Email is for corporate.” Now I understand why everybody at that service center was so freakishly nice. They’re being scrutinized under a microscope. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/27 "2018-11-29T20:56:17Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Sorry, you didn’t provide enough feedback. Please write 100 words at least on the quality of these posts. This is my feedback on the quality of the posts in question. There are many different ways to provide feedback, but I have chosen this particular method in order to maximize the quality of my feedback on the quality of the posts in question. Other people may have different ideas about the best way to provide feedback, and that is okay - different strokes for different folks and all of that. So, without further ado, I now present the feedback, which was requested of me, on the quality of the posts in question: One was good, but the other one deserved recognition as well. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168/28 "2018-11-29T21:05:18Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > _It was the best of tires, it was the worst of tires…_ I’m inspired. I’m going to write a long, generic essay and use it for all of these surveys. “Bright was the morning and high was my heart as I journeyed forth into Carl’s Jr…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mild-pitting-writing-an-essay-every-time-you-do-something/825168.md?page=1)