raving fans run a muck

raving fans run a muck

fiction
edward w pritchard


If I have cancer and go to the Doctor no matter how happy and impressed I am with his office routine and staff, his personal competence as a physician and as a man and the fairness of his billing routines there is no way I am ever going to be too happy with my experience. Ditto with a criminal defense lawyer if I am charged by the State  with a serious crime and the lawyer is fighting hard to keep me in jail for only five years instead of twenty. In serious situations that cause me personal harm and loss there is always the nagging realization that no matter how good the outcome if I have lost something I once had I will be unhappy.

This idea that the customers of businesses should be raving fans of Banks, hardware stores and day care centers is misguided. Who can stay perfectly satisfied with their choice in grocery stores week to week as prices insidiously rise, the cashier staff get younger and younger, and the old men potato chip salesmen stocking the food aisles become more and more detached from their customer base.

This yelp idea of rating your experience with your criminal defense lawyer and putting it on line with negative vicious comments is misguided. Word of mouth does enough damage what with people's tendency to gossip and be stealth-ful and inappropriate in their comments and criticisms. To write down nasty allegations even if true is not cool. Let things be.

So to this current plethora of negative accusations, co worker against co worker of sexual misconduct allegations twenty years after they have left the employer. Ditto again ex spouses accusing each other of emotional abuse twenty years post divorce. In fact shouldn't there be non disclosure language in employee exit agreements and divorce contract language to minimize the human tendency to grouse and exaggerate their experiences?

To write down nasty allegations or spread gossip even if true is not cool and leads to so much discomfort and disrespect for human dignity. It's cliche- but to error is human to forgive and to have never spoken divine. Let things be.