You don’t have to go far into the Internet to find things going wrong. People seems to write more about what goes wrong than what goes right. I suppose when something goes right, it is expected and therefore not newsworthy. We have an idea of how things should work, but if you read the Internet, you’d get the sense that nothing ever works how it should work.
I’d like to report something that worked the way it should have worked. Not long ago, Kelly called me out to the car to show me the new addition. A road stone had smacked the windshield, and the result of their brief and energetic affair was a small, but deep divot in the glass. The divot wasn’t at eye line, but on a brand new car, it was annoying.
We had no idea how much it would cost to repair something like a divoted windshield, so we called our insurance company. They were very nice. They told us that a repair would cost us nothing. They recommended some local service that would take care of it for us. Kelly called the local service. They arranged to have someone come by that very day, but the schedule didn’t work for us. So they arranged to have someone come by at a time that did work for us.
The person arrived on time, determined that the divot could be easily repaired, and repaired it on the spot. He already had the information he needed from the insurance company, and he left without us having to pay for the service. The insurance company took care of it.
That is exactly how something like that should work. We pay the insurance company to insure our vehicles. When there is a problem, they should be responsive, and reliable, and they were both of these things in this case. Aside from the initial annoyance of finding a divot in the windshield of our brand new car, the entire experience was easy and stress-free.
A few days later, Kelly lost a cap to one of her teeth. It was nighttime, and she wasn’t in any pain, so she decided to call the dentist in the morning. The next morning, she called the dentist, who arranged to have her come in at 11:30. We weren’t sure how long it would take to fix things. I had the baby just in case things took a long time.
Kelly explained to our dentist that we were heading on vacation in a week, and would be out-of-town for three weeks after that, so a big production was not in order. She needed something that would keep until January. Our dentist took care of it in about half an hour. Once again, that was exactly how it should have worked.
I get a great deal of satisfaction when things work they way they are supposed to work. It is the same sort of satisfaction I get when fitting a piece into a puzzle. Everything clicks. I wish people wrote more about the things working they way they are supposed to work.
Our insurance company sends out an email survey for every little interaction we have with them, ten minutes after we have it. Since the windshield was repaired, I have been eagerly awaiting that email, so that I could let them know how happy we were with their service. So far, the survey has not arrived.
I guess their survey system isn’t working the way it should.
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Perhaps when things don’t go well and that upsets or angers us, we are more motivated to lash out. We are momentarily out of control, adrift and lashing out and complaining is a way to reassert some sense of control (even if it is an illusion). We feel like we have achieved something.
When things go right, maybe we’re mostly relieved they worked out as we expected and we continue past the event? I think people do highlight the good, though. Not always, granted, but I see it often enough.
I’m part of a Facebook group for our city and I frequently see people sharing information about vendors who did a great job or rendered a terrific service. In fact I see “unsolicited recommendation” prefacing these posts so often, it triggers memories of seeing paid endorsements elsewhere online. 😛