Like all good lessons, this is one I forget and have to remind myself of every so often. Because really, it’s easier to whine and complain to whomever is closest at hand. 🙂
But I remembered the McDonald’s story about a year ago, because of some problems we had getting our new cooler installed. I was unhappy about those problems, but it was clear the folks up on my roof installing the cooler in 100 degree heat could do little about it. I realized I could complain to my friends and acquaintances and anyone else who would listen for the next few weeks, or I could write a letter and tell the folks in charge about my concerns.
So I wrote a letter to Naughton’s Heating and Cooling, and sent it both to the manager and to the company president. I wasn’t even sure what the company president’s name was, but I didn’t let that stop me. I laid out the problems we’d had in my letter, dropped it in the mail, and then I let go of the matter–forgot about it and moved on.
Or I would have forgotten it, if not for a call I got a week later–telling me that Frank Naughton would like to schedule a time to come by and have a look at our cooler.
I hadn’t even known there was a Frank Naughton until then. But he came by at the time we scheduled, talked to me, and offered his apologies without making any excuses. A class act, that. I will probably buy cooler parts from Naughton’s forever now, especially since the company has been good to work with ever since.
But that was the day I called my Mom, and told her that her teaching took. 🙂