Have We Forgotten How To Be Kind?

Imagine this: Last night you went out for a meal. The service was slow, the place lacked atmosphere and the meal was average at best. Now imagine the next day you spot the owner of the restaurant in town. What would you do? Would you then approach them and tell them what a shocking meal you had, how the service had been appalling and how you’d never recommend them to your friends and family? Perhaps you’d go a bit further and tell them that their food is disgusting, that you wouldn’t feed it to your dog? OR… would you perhaps nod or smile politely, whilst silently vowing to give their restaurant a miss next time? I think and I hope I’m not mistaken, that the vast majority of us would choose the latter. But now imagine the same scenario, only this time, instead of bumping in to the owner, you’re now home, sat behind a computer screen, browsing their website or social media channels. This is where the lines now start to blur. Suddenly it can seem ok to be a bit more direct with them; you’re doing other people a service surely, by letting your thoughts be known, thus preventing them from having the same experience? Or are you? Pre-internet, we’d tell our friends and family about our experience and they would perhaps tell theirs too. The business in question could lose a handful of customers as a result of your lack of recommendation. But in this day, due to the power of social media, a bad review could reach thousands of people, can be left permanently for all to view and thus can be crippling for a small business. Due to the rise of social media, the accessibility of both people and businesses and perhaps the fact that we can hide faceless, even nameless behind our computer screens, for some social etiquette, politeness and tact are left behind. Forget constructive criticism, this can sometimes go even beyond honesty and take a very unsavoury path into internet bullying. Sadly, it’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be easing off any time soon. But for those that don’t intend to be trolling or bullying, the ones that are just speaking ‘the truth’, their words, if left uncensored, can still have an effect. For the restaurant owner, a private rather than public message from the customer listing their concerns, complaints and suggestions will give them the opportunity to explain, apologise for and rectify the situation and for that opportunity over a public denouncement, they will be entirely grateful.

Yes, you shouldn’t have to pay for a meal that was unsatisfactory and inadequate, but for the restaurant owner, who for example, had found themselves not only suddenly short-staffed but unexpectedly busy and has now been ‘internet-shamed’, it seems for them, the scales have well and truly tipped.