If you have been coming here for awhile or know me in person, you’ll probably be quite surprised to see me up here on my soapbox today. . . but I have something to get off my chest.
For anyone who is fairly new here. . . umm, I’m sorry to do something so out of character this early in our friendship. . . please stick around a bit longer!
Sooooo, I probably should launch this tirade with “it’s been one of those weeks”. There were great aspirations to be had for a week in which my girls returned to school after summer holidays and the man-of-the-house was at work. Finally it was just the studio buddies and ME. . . all alone in the studio with lots to do. But as often is the way, there have been many unexpected distractions that have slowed my progress on the work front.
Then add to this chaos a ‘bad’ email week and you’ll understand why I’m perched up here on my soapbox ready to deliver a good old fashioned rant worthy of a grumpy grandmother with stones in her shoes. Here goes. . .
Back when I started my business. . . yes you already know that was 20 years ago, which puts us back in the last century, business was a whole lot different. We promoted our creative businesses by magazine advertising and word of mouth. All my orders came in via either mail or phone. I loved the phone orders because it gave me an opportunity to speak with my customers in person. I not only got to know my repeat customers but it also put a human face to the business.
Then technology soared. We took our businesses online where there was online shopping, emailing and later, social networking. Eventually paper patterns were replaced with e-patterns and instant downloads. I now get to teach not only in a classroom, but also in a virtual classroom with students I’ll never get to meet face-to-face. Even more amazing. . . I can now chat with virtual friends on Facebook and twitter and share my creative life in the blogosphere, where all my other creative friends live.
So what’s not to love about this incredible technological era we live in? Well I’ll tell you - I think technology has made many people plain RUDE, especially with emailing. There you have it. . . I’m shouting it for all to hear – RUDE people are out there folks and I don’t appreciate it!
There’s a little something called etiquette. . . it’s the art of being polite. We use it every day on the phone and in person, so why do people forget it when emailing?
Obviously for me emailing is a huge part of my job. That’s how I receive and send out my orders and is an efficient way of conversing with customers. I check my emails before turning the computer off for the day, which is generally around 10:30 pm. The first thing I do in the morning, even before my morning cuppa at 6:30 am, is check my emails. Believe it or not, lots of things happen overnight on the World Wide Web.
So I don’t fancy the first email of the morning to read “where’s my pattern I ordered 6 hours ago?” Hmmm. . . blunt and to the point isn’t it. Obviously this person couldn’t spare a simple “Hi Kerry” before charging at me. Being the person I am, I reply nicely with a sorry for the delay spiel, when really what I want to say is “if you checked your order receipt you’ll see it says delivery within 24 hours and given you made the order in the middle of your day, which just happens to be the middle of the night here in the southern hemisphere I was actually sleeping for the past 6 hours!!”
But hey, run a Crazy $1 Sale and then you’ll really see how unkind people can be via email. You might remember 2 weeks ago I sold off the last of my paper patterns for $1 each in the afore mentioned Crazy Sale. . . at 90% off the original price that’s a bargain in anyone’s language. The orders came in quicker than I could keep the website updated, so invariable a few orders got through for items that had already sold out. This meant in some cases a customer only received say 4 of the 8 patterns they ordered. A note of explanation was provided with the invoices and as a good will gesture, I popped a FREE pattern in with their orders.
Let me step down from my soapbox for just a second to say that I did receive some lovely emails from customers who totally understood the situation and they were surprised and grateful for the free pattern they received. So thank you ladies for your kind words – I really appreciated it.
What I didn’t expect was the negative emails from people who were either annoyed they didn’t get what they hoped to get or they didn’t like their FREE pattern I gifted them. One person even asked for a refund on the FREE pattern. . . seriously. . . how does one refund FREE? I suppose I could give her a smile that costs nothing.
Everyone has the right to question an order or make a complaint. . . I have no issue with that, but please be polite when doing so. Remember, there’s a human at the other end of your email. The simple etiquette of salutation is always appreciated. Addressing someone by their name and signing off with your own softens the blow of the one liner “Why didn’t I get what I asked for”.
No matter the level of nastiness received in an email, I’ve always remained nice, gritted my teeth and replied in a respectable fashion my mother would be proud of. . . until this week !
Finally I’m over it – be rude to me and you’ll get rude back.
“I’m sorry you didn’t bother to read the enclosed receipt that explains everything”
“I’m sorry you don’t like the FREE gift I gave you – how about you just throw it in the bin”
“Oh, and forgive me for having to sleep each day”
. . . and finally to the lady who says she isn’t buying from me anymore. . . GOOD . . . I don’t have the time to waste on rude ungrateful customers. You’d think considering you’ve been a long term customer you’d show me a little more respect!! I don’t care if you people have had a bad day or the kids are annoying you or your life just plain sucks. . . use the manners your mother taught you!!
Done!
Phew. . . wasn’t that a tirade.
I’m sorry for being so negative; it doesn’t sit well with me. For 20 years of business nothing has been too much for my customers. I’m thankful that on the whole, MOST people are delightful and if you look at the volume of customers I deal with per year, the rude few are a small percentage. Hmm. . . maybe the Crazy Sale made some people a little crazy. . . just saying?
I get it that the world is changing. Technology is progressing so quickly and texting, tweeting and emailing has made it an instant world, but if we start to lose the niceties of conversation amidst the abbreviations and shortened language, what are we left with? [sigh]
Now on a more positive note. . . while I’m working on uploading the new website and boutique store, I’m sharing sneak-peeks each day over on my Facebook page. Pop on over and say ‘hi’ and maybe you’ll even click the ‘like’ button to put a smile on my face today. I promise to be well behaved and NICE.
Creative hugs ~ Kerryanne
