I try not to complain, but I'm so very good at complaining that it seems a shame not to keep doing something at which I so obviously excel.
However, most complaints merely make you a weary companion for your soon-to-be-former friends. A little complaining goes a long way.
So, complain wisely. Complain about legitimate things to the people who can do something about it.
I'm talking about contacting the manufacturer if you have a problem with their product. For example (and this is not a paid advertisement), after my 18-year-old Mr. Coffee broke, I bought another one. However, Mr. Coffee #2 was very persnickety about how you loaded the basket into him, and if you did not hold your mouth right and say several voodoo incantations, the hot coffee would go, not into the coffee pot, but all over the counter, into your drawers and run onto the floor. Which would be fine if you were the sort who liked to lick your coffee up off of a flat surface every morning.
Worse, since I bought the fancy one that brews your coffee while you are sleeping (and the aroma wakes you up -- I think I'll be excited about this feature for the rest of my life), it was a particularly bad surprise to walk groggily into the kitchen expecting to pour a great cup of coffee and instead getting to mop the whole place up.
So, I found Mr. Coffee's web site and sent them a polite complaint. In no time at all I had a reply that apologized to me, asked for the model number and then asked for my address so they could send me a new one!
Just like that. And they did, and the new one is perfect. One little e-mail and Mr. Coffee made me happy. And that makes me very, very happy. I like them even better than before.
When Paul put down ceramic tile in the kitchen (see Domestic Rule #4: Threaten to do it yourself), the grout color in no way resembled the grout color on the color selection chart. It was in the same color family, just about forty shades too light. Instead of noticing the beautiful new tile, you noticed the bright colored grout lines. Now, I've been in advertising long enough to know that the problem was probably with the company that printed the color selection chart. It's really difficult to get the colors to be true. However, sympathetic though I may be, that is not my problem. So I went on the Internet and found the grout manufacturer's web site and sent in a polite but complaining e-mail. I received an immediate reply and a request for my address. They sent me four bottles of grout colorant in four different shades for me to try. I found the one that was exactly the color I was hoping for, sent them another e-mail, and they sent enough colorant to finish the job. They were apologetic, helpful and solved my problem very quickly.
Now, it would have been better no doubt if the grout had been the expected color the first time around. And I have some concern that over time the colorant will wear off. And I am here to tell you that applying grout colorant with a toothbrush all over your floor is not a recreational use of time. Still, I am very happy with the service that we received. The world is not perfect, and if I can just get somebody who will help me make things close enough to right for me, that's all I'm asking for.
(And not at all what I've gotten with the ION USB Turntable folks.)
So, the moral of the story is that if something isn't right, complain. There just might be somebody out there whose job is to make you happy.
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