Some men live in terror of the moment that a woman will ask if a particular outfit makes her look fat. The question may be a fair one but its directness can lead to problems:
- Answering, “Yes,” is not the response someone wants to hear if that person wants you to say, “No.”
- Hesitating to answer may be interpreted as wanting to avoid saying, “Yes.”
- Your feelings about someone’s size and fashion sense may not be something you want to address in a one word answer.
With all this in mind, I was surprised to recently have a customer service representative ask me if I thought her dress made her look fat. Okay, those were not the exact words that she used but it was the same kind of scenario.
In this case it was being asked by the person, I had just interacted with on the phone. She wanted me to rate her performance on a scale of one to five.
I’m used to hearing that my call may be recorded for training purposes or being asked if I would complete a short survey about the experience at the end of my call. But this was the customer service representative asking me to rate her to her.
In this case, my call was a positive interaction so I gave her a rating of five. Did she deserve the top rating? While there were no problems and I was treated well, I’m not sure if the call symbolized the Best of the Best. Later, I realized that had my answer been delivered to a machine, I probably would have given a four.
My being uncomfortable with such a direct question, by the person whom the question is about, led to my inflating my rating.
Had my experience been horrible, would have I answered the same question with a rating of one? Probably not. I would have told the person a two or a three just because I wouldn’t want to hurt any feelings.
And I don’t think I’m alone here. It may be a more passive response but seeking out conflict situations isn’t good for my blood pressure. It’s easier to say, “You look great in that outfit.” Keep in mind that I don?t discuss the size of a server?s tip at a restaurant either.
The company may have come up with an ingenious way to boost its customer service ratings. Unfortunately, it may be nothing more than a numerical victory as some of us are reluctant to answer honestly in certain situations.
If I’m ever asked the question again, maybe I should say, “So I can answer to the best of my ability, how would your rank me as a customer?”
