A popular song from the older generation was called “In Other Words,” and we often substitute words when we want to soften a tough tirade or embellish dull prose. Sometimes the word we need is the one we started with in the first place.
At work we have a few departments for customers, and the difference between them can be just one word. In one case, Customer Administration and Customer Relations are two different entities. One takes care of the billing and such, and the other handles direct comments, feedback and complaints.
At least once a week, a piece of mail (yes, in an envelope with postage on it) comes across my desk addressed to “Administration” when it should have gone to “Relations.” The address is clearly marked, in nice and easy-to-read print, so it is the customers who choose to change it. Sometimes they add “Supervisor,” “Manager,” or even the president of the company, which goes back to the topic of entitlement from a previous post. Believe me, the president of the company is holding the company together through the skills of the very people to whom you should actually be addressing your envelope. He would pass it on to us anyway, so kindly leave the prez out of the picture.
So here is what happens when I get that misdirected mail: if the mail room person is coming by, I redirect it or, if I am getting out of my seat (which I try to do once every three to four hours if I’m not heading to lunch or to the ladies’ room), I will take it upstairs and drop it off if I have time. Anyway, customers who do this are lucky, because we happen to be one floor apart. In some places the misplaced missal would have to go to another building, or even another city.
We try to say what we mean, but please don’t blame somebody if you change something we have taken pains to make clear. It could mean faster service, and that makes everybody happier.
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