On Internet Rudeness

So…

Why is it that folks think it’s OK to send rude or hateful emails?

Every now and then I receive a mean-spirited, accusatory email from a customer. It’s always upsetting to me because I take my business very seriously and when I receive an email like this it’s really hard to not take it personally.

I hadn’t been in business very long when I received my first such email. And let me tell you, it was a barn-burner! In retrospect, I’m surprised that there wasn’t smoke coming out of the keyboard as I read it  It was a 2-page scathing email, chopping me down, calling me a scam artist and other vicious personal insults. This gal said she was going to sue me for everything I was worth and she even had a couple of things to say about my mother!

To say I was devastated was an understatement. I turned off the computer wondering if I should just give up. I hardly slept that night. I spent the better part of the next morning carefully addressing each and every point in the email, and I refunded her money with my deepest apologies.

The very next day after sending the email and refund, I called that customer to try to talk through the complaints. She cheerfully took my call saying, “Oh don’t worry about that! I wasn’t really that upset. I was just in a really crummy mood, and I had had a really horrible day and I was just venting,” she laughed. “I really didn’t think anyone would read that email anyway!”

I hung up totally dumbstruck. She was LAUGHING! I wanted to ask her exactly what there was about her letter that she found so funny, but I literally couldn’t speak.

Because here’s the deal…

when we yell at the coffee or snack machine, it’s fine, because they’re just mechanical appliances… And when we talk junk (or worse) about the driver in the car in front of us, it’s OK because they can’t hear us…

But when we scream at a website or company by way of our computer or phone, it’s all too easy to forget that we’re no longer dealing with an inanimate object, but a person.

For some reason folks feel emboldened by the anonymity they feel sitting behind that computer screen in the privacy of their homes. I guess it’s all too easy to forget that at the other end of the line is a real person, a lot like you, whose birthday was last week, who’s little girl kept her up half the night with a fever, who’s worried about making ends meet AND is personally affected by the things you say.

As you can imagine, I get dozens of emails each day and the overwhelming majority are positive and many are wonderfully written by terrific people across the globe who have been to my site and are in need of assistance or advice. However, for those thankfully few folks who insist upon peppering their accusations, demands or complaints with profanity and other expletives about my character, well… the only response they’ll be getting from now on is a swift DELETE!

And now…. it’s YOUR turn!

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