Been thinking something for a while and wondered what everyone else thinks?

Looking at forums like this, and customer service emails we see at work, it’s striking how disproportionately emotional people get nowadays. Customer service emails are full of emotionally loaded rants, people go mad that a retailer has “ignored” their email (can they prove it has been ignored or just not reached yet), forums have people b*tching about a brand or product just because they had a problem and are the inevitable statistic that will have a problem.

I saw someone email my work a few weeks threatening to go on an online campaign to try and damage our brand because he didn’t get his own way, and we saw that hilarious thread about a bike shop’s delivery getting delayed due to Royal Mail not picking up in the snow.

Has our increasingly solitary lifestyle with less and less proper contact made us emotionally unstable? Or is the fact we don’t have to look someone in the eye (within punching distance) mean we have lost our inhibitions and sense of courtesy?

I’m interested to hear people’s thoughts…….

I find it hard to work up a fig to be honest

If people are prone to it anyway the internet doesn’t help, there’s also alot lost in translation communication wise, which is the basis of alot of the arguements on here (amoungst other ‘issues’ 😉 )

Another wierd thing is some of the videos people put up on facebook etc, of people getting maimed and other nasty stuff, they don’t seem to feel any empathy with other humans as it comes at them through a computer.

You’re far more aware of it after becoming a parent as you look at the world where your children will be growing up in. 😐

It’s the same sort of deal as roadrage really. Safely tucked away and so able to vent frustrations freely.

Edit the thread title please?

/troll mode

the forums is not real life

/exit troll mode

It’s the same sort of deal as roadrage really. Safely tucked away and so able to vent frustrations freely.

True, wouldn’t say boo to a goose if they met you in person.

the forums is not real life

I’m just a figment of your imagination too 😈

Plenty of people find the word “retard” offensive, but you have no problem using it in a thread title?

the forums is not real life

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! 😯

bearnecessities – Member
Edit the thread title please?

Assuming this is irony! 🙂 Done well at that. The word retard is a completely functional word with a real meaning that is 100% relevant and acceptable to use in this context.

Of course the internet has bred people to become pathetic whiners. They don’t know how to interact, social retardation, the idea that everything has to be done a certain way and if it’s not then they have been hard done by.

Plenty of people find the word “retard” offensive, but you have no problem using it in a thread title?

Sorry! No offence meant – how do I change it? 🙂

Plus one to the road rage analogy

Also, people where over reacting before the spread of the Internet. You just didn’t get to read it as it happened.

First hand example being this fella that fell out with an entire village. Literally didn’t talk to anyone. Got upset about a decision to do with a ‘pocket park’ went on for over a year.

Of course the internet has bred people to become pathetic whiners. They don’t know how to interact, social retardation, the idea that everything has to be done a certain way and if it’s not then they have been hard done by.

My thoughts exactly…!

It just provides another easily accessible outlet for idiots to be idiots. The upside is that it also provides an outlet for nice people to be nice. Which countless threads on here about marriage breakups, depression etc, where people need advice and support, constantly prove.

The sad bitter sociopathic people issuing threats will still be sat in their mums bedrooms trolling. The rest of us will be leading interesting and fulfilling lives, which the internet is a small part of

Sorry! No offence meant – how do I change it?

Da MODS

It’s all in the context, talking about fire resistance of sofas you’ll be ok. Talking about people, not so ok.

It just provides another easily accessible outlet for idiots to be idiots. The upside is that it also provides an outlet for nice people to be nice. Which countless threads on here about marriage breakups, depression etc, where people need advice and support, constantly prove.

The sad bitter sociopathic people issuing threats will still be sat in their mums bedrooms trolling. The rest of us will be leading interesting and fulfilling lives, which the internet is a small part of

Yes, taken, but due to reduction of face to face interaction through out society, people sat in pubs each on their phones for example, there seems to be a further disconnection between people, if that makes sence, more so in the young.
Anyway I’m off to do some work.

The general public are pretty thick and self centred narcissists, I wouldn’t contemplate doing business with them and try to have as little to do with them as possible.

A number of points here: people have always whined, it’s just that now it is shared it is visible and recordable among a greater body of people (Twitter in particular); customer service too often is crap; if retailers want to enjoy benefits of an expanded customer-base they have to take the rough with the smooth. I don’t think people are any more or less likely to complain in person.

I’m starting to hear the comment “our hearts are broken” in the media about the random murder of strangers.

I found that mine wasn’t. Because I didn’t even know the victims and they didn’t even live in my town.

I was beginning to think I was some sort of emotional retard, but then I remembered to be British about it, and felt much better. 😉

I don’t
think people are any more or less likely to
complain in person.

Maybe – but in person they’d be more ‘normal’ and exhibit a more appropriate emotional reaction…….

I think accessibility and immediacy is the main thing.

In days of yore folks still got upset, but by the time they’d found themselves a quill, inkpot, papyrus and a suitable writing bureau they’d calmed down and realised it wasn’t worth the cost of a messenger boy.

Whereas these days any muppet can mash a few buttons whilst still seething with righteous indignation because the socks they ordered are 33% Nylon, not 32% as it said on the website.

I blame Princess Diana

Maybe – but in person they’d be more ‘normal’ and exhibit a more appropriate emotional reaction…….

Possibly – I couldn’t say for sure. What I do know is that people behave weirdly in stores too. Not exactly a scientific sample, but the indignant well-off middle aged couple in Chester blasting a 16yr old Saturday store assistant for slightly misleading sales signs was a pleasant event to witness last weekend.

Saying all of this, I’ve yet to have anyone be particularly angry/unreasonable at us, had a few at the other suspension places, but think they may have been ‘primed’ by other members of staff (all left now)

Best one was a lady who a bike boxed for shipping to the US, when I was working in a bike shop, she went totally ape on the phone swearing at me as we’d removed the wheels and handlebars and had apparantly destroyed the bike. (it was packed better than when they come from the manufacturers) She rang 3 times just screaming swearwords at me until she calmed down after being hung up on reapeated and apologiesd 😀
or
The middle aged man in a rather nice tweed 3 piece suit who had a proper toddler stlye trantrum foot stamping and all as the wine shop I was working in didn’t have the Chateau Neuf du Pape he wanted, in front of another 6 customers who were all creasing up laughing, I did just manage to keep a straight face.

I work in a place where everyone is lovely, and there’s rarely any friction between anyone. Where people are kind, considerate and supportive to one another, but also where they are open and honest about things too. It’s quite wonderful.

I need a respite for all that niceness. This place is perfect.

I was an emotional retard waaaaaaay before teh internetz.

thx1138 – I take it that you work from home, on your own?

He’s actually David Cameron

thx1138 – I take it that you work from home, on your own?

😆

Ok, it’s not quite that perfect, but it is a pretty nice working environment. And this place is ok I find; one or two bored/insecure arseholes, but generally not bad for an internet forum. Try some football forums; think of the kind of boneheaded thuggery that goes on at some matches/pubs etc, then add in the anonymity of the internet, and you have a not very happy place at all.

andyrm – you create a thread on the internet whining about people whining on the internet.

Imo the internet is the next best thing since the proverbial sliced bread.

As a student 25 years ago i worked for sainburys and trust me from that experience people will whine about any thing, from moving stock up or down one shelf ” so they can’t find it!” to trolley rage where we had to escort people out of the shop and christmas was essentially anarchy in the shop. these were in the days before sunday opening and shops could be closed for 4 yes count em 4 days!, it was like that scene in threads when the sirens go off!. what has really happened is that there are far more and faster ways to complain and tell people that you have complained, other than that i dont think much has changed! 😉

patriotpro – not whining, genuinely trying to guage some insight based on a conversation at work, and as STW has an active forum consisting of what appears to be a pretty articulate demographic, it seemed a sensible place to start! 🙂

@andyrm
Are you trying to prove your own point by whining on the internet about those people that whine via the internet. (Edit. Already said :D, you are whining.)

The OP works both ways. Perfectly rational people now have a way of complaining and letting others know without having to do it face to face.

Way too many companies have been getting away with shocking customer service for years.

theocb – see my above post. I’m trying to guage people’s thoughts on the matter.

You’ll never catch me whinging anywhere. I go by the mantra of ‘facts not feelings’ 🙂

Andy – left you a fuller reply to your points on the Zavvi thread, and I think it’s less a case of the internet turning us into whiners, instead making us realise that we have something to moan about.

When one retailer answers emails within 24 hours, and deals with returns and refunds in speedy timeframe (I returned something to Amazon on Tuesday. The refund hit my account today), then it’s almost impossible not to contrast that with firms that can’t seem to manage anywhere near this. As has often been said on here, the true test of a retailer is how they react when stuff goes wrong, not when it goes right.

As for the emotional side of things, I think that is partly the consequence of the internet and electronic communication in general. We are used to swift communication via email. If you fire off an email and it disappears into the void for a week or more, it makes us feel powerless, and that breeds anger.

It’s the electronic equivalent of being ignored by staff in a physical shop. Even an acknowledgement is nice and lets you know you have a relationship with that person or retailer.

Andy – left you a fuller reply to your points on the Zavvi thread, and I think it’s less a case of the internet turning us into whiners, instead making us realise that we have something to moan about.

When one retailer answers emails within 24 hours, and deals with returns and refunds in speedy timeframe (I returned something to Amazon on Tuesday. The refund hit my account today), then it’s almost impossible not to contrast that with firms that can’t seem to manage anywhere near this. As has often been said on here, the true test of a retailer is how they react when stuff goes wrong, not when it goes right.

As for the emotional side of things, I think that is partly the consequence of the internet and electronic communication in general. We are used to swift communication via email. If you fire off an email and it disappears into the void for a week or more, it makes us feel powerless, and that breeds anger.

It’s the electronic equivalent of being ignored by staff in a physical shop. Even an acknowledgement is nice and lets you know you have a relationship with that person or retailer.

Or is the fact we don’t have to look someone in the eye (within punching distance) mean we have lost our inhibitions and sense of courtesy?

^^This^^

The British are well known for being world-class whiners, and the internet is just another outlet for our national pastime …

That’s fighting talk.

The OP is clearly written with one intention IMO.

You might call one mans complaint ‘bitching’ I call it one mans complaint! (he has the right to tell the world that company x,y or z didn’t cut the mustard. I hope rational people will take that exactly as it should be. When I then see a lot of people saying the same about x,y or z I might avoid that company)

You might think an email is emotionally loaded/ranty but some people in the customer service industry seem to forget that little things are more important to different people. As said above.. It’s how companies solve a problem that can make the difference.
Just because a few abuse this outlet I don’t want to forget the people power it now brings.

The OP is not balanced in anyway IMO so it is you whining IMO. Nothing personal it’s only my opinion on what you have written.