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So I was at the bank today, opening a new bank account, and the person opening the account got the manager because the manager apparently likes to say "hi" to new account owners.
We exchanged a few pleasant, and then she earnestly said that "the bank tried really hard to exceed expectations, and were there any instances I could think of that they had?"
This was kind of unexpected, and threw me for a brief period, but my wit came to my rescue and I think I only had time for one "Um..." before I came up with something along the lines of "Not really, you've been efficient and professional, but I had high expectations and you've met them all, so that's good.". In that instant, I thought it was a pretty good save, considering.
The two of them seemed to think that this was genuinely quite funny, which was good, but the fact that I had "high standards" was a point of gentle teasing afterwards. ("I hope this is up to your high standards!") Not much, like 2 or 3 times total, but enough that I felt slightly awkward about it. (I also thought it wouldn't help if I pointed out that "high standards" wasn't what I'd actually said, so I kept quiet about that.)
So, yeah, there I was, feeling a bit awkward, and second-guessing myself about whether my off-the-cuff attempt to tell them politely that they weren't quite as amazing as they hoped they were, was as good as it could have been. Maybe next time someone asks me if they've exceeded my expectations, I should just go with a flat "no". It would be much easier.
But then I'd probably feel guilty about telling someone in front of their boss that they'd not reached the level of service that their boss expected of them. Even if it was the level of service I expected of them and was perfectly happy with.
This. This is why dealing with people is hard. This is why I don't like talking much, because in hindsight I have so often used the wrong words, and talking less means fewer opportunities to screw up.
We exchanged a few pleasant, and then she earnestly said that "the bank tried really hard to exceed expectations, and were there any instances I could think of that they had?"
This was kind of unexpected, and threw me for a brief period, but my wit came to my rescue and I think I only had time for one "Um..." before I came up with something along the lines of "Not really, you've been efficient and professional, but I had high expectations and you've met them all, so that's good.". In that instant, I thought it was a pretty good save, considering.
The two of them seemed to think that this was genuinely quite funny, which was good, but the fact that I had "high standards" was a point of gentle teasing afterwards. ("I hope this is up to your high standards!") Not much, like 2 or 3 times total, but enough that I felt slightly awkward about it. (I also thought it wouldn't help if I pointed out that "high standards" wasn't what I'd actually said, so I kept quiet about that.)
So, yeah, there I was, feeling a bit awkward, and second-guessing myself about whether my off-the-cuff attempt to tell them politely that they weren't quite as amazing as they hoped they were, was as good as it could have been. Maybe next time someone asks me if they've exceeded my expectations, I should just go with a flat "no". It would be much easier.
But then I'd probably feel guilty about telling someone in front of their boss that they'd not reached the level of service that their boss expected of them. Even if it was the level of service I expected of them and was perfectly happy with.
This. This is why dealing with people is hard. This is why I don't like talking much, because in hindsight I have so often used the wrong words, and talking less means fewer opportunities to screw up.
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