superfluous apology
We have come to love it so much that we are now really scared about listening to truth in any of its forms. 😜🤣
Just look at this possibility. We inadvertently clicked the “grievance” menu instead of the “feedback” menu from the ‘dropdown list’ of a customer portal, and wrote an appreciation there. We get an acknowledgement email in 120 milliseconds, which might look somewhat like this:
“Dear valued customer,
We sincerely apologise….( bla-bla-bla)....”
And a footnote: This is an automated reply.
😜. ( Apologies AUTOMATED 😳…. meaning :”you are such a dumb fool, that even an automated-apology pacifies you! Psycho?)
A true incident in my life:
Just a week after I sat at a public counter as a novice, straight from home( zero training in “customer service”, so…..no plastic_smile training),
A customer of the bank barked at me. I had tried to point out some omission by him, in a document. I kept quiet, looking into his eyes.
The manager summoned me aloud, and sent a subordinate to ‘request’ that customer too, into his cabin.
After briefly listening to the customers version, that manager got up, joined his palms(🙏) and told the customer:” sir, I apologise to you, on behalf of this clerk (me, psn)”
We both came out of the cabin. I went to my desk and the customer stride away, with his chin-up👍
After 5 minutes, that manager called me in, again! 😳
Manager :”you were right. He was wrong. His barking was inappropriate & uncalled for”
Me : “sir, then why the apology?”
Manager:”we are here to deal with his_money, not for mending his character”( lesson number 1, for me)
Me: “ Sir….then I should have apologised, why you????🤔”
Lesson number 2 now , manager : "which pleases him more? Manager's apology or clerks? I used an adverse situation to further strengthen his customer_relationship😜…. Did you see? He walked out ‘proud’..”
The joke was,
That customer surfaced at my counter 10 days later 🤣
Armed with”customer strategy” I rose to stand up, and lavished a “welcome sir, thank you for trusting me to serve you again, despite my mistake few days ago…. What can I do for you 😔🙏”
Customer: “ no no no…. I just came to tell you ‘sorry’ ….. I was not myself that day. Your words didn't sink into me properly, until I recalled it a day later, when I was relaxed. Please try to forget my bad behaviour that_day” ( 🤔 😳😳😳…. What should I say now, to suit ‘best customer service ‘? To a close friend, I know what_exactly to say. But a novice_yet?... I nodded sheepishly, leaving him to fill in the blanks, for my loss_of_words)
3 decades later, I met a person, who possed a “spiritual guru” in him. He scolds, bashes, reprimands ( etc) his disciples quite mercilessly 🤣. By a strange fate-or-luck, I was just one of the 2 fellows out of thousands of his students in spirituality, who didn't get a “chance” to apologise for my mistakes/miss_takes/whatever! Others, mostly, avoided being ‘vocal’ about the scope for their apologies ( it's their choice, so no comments from me🙏). Over and above that, something that others couldn't ‘help noticing’( over a decade of tutelage under him) was, he never refused or declined any request of mine🤣😜. I rarely had any occasion to be ‘vocal’ about my request! He reads minds too well😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏
Unapologetically yours,
psn(12 Sept 2025)
