Commands & Demands Are Guaranteed to Upset Customers |
Yesterday, I was returning from an international trip, starting the second leg of the way home.
Already, I had been in the air about 10 hours, and it took another hour to clear customs and to re-check my bags. This followed conducting a new seminar, in two languages before an exacting audience and I was exhausted.
Still, I had another three hours to go, from Houston to Los Angeles.
I was flying First Class.
The flight crew was incredibly self-important, seeming to party on the eve of Thanksgiving while sending the message that the rest of us were rudely interrupting them.
I tried to hand my suit jacket to the flight attendant to be closeted and she barked, "Just a minute!"
There was no "please" attached to that line; just a grumpy, irritated, impatient tone.
This verbal abuse immediately reversed any positive feelings the flight attendant had engendered to that point.
The offending message is called a MAND as in command or demand. Any English teacher will say this phrase has an implied "You will wait" or "You must wait" that precedes it.
It is guaranteed to make customers bristle with defensiveness, says Dr. Gary S. Goodman, best-selling
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