Day 15: How to be nice, part III: Say sorry and put it right

I’ve been following the unravelling of News International with a mixture of Schadenfreude and disgust. Every time I feel like I’m starting to catch up on the latest news, some other clown resigns and I’ve got another thousand words of bad-guy-gets-come-uppance to read.

But this post isn’t about hacking into murder victims’ phones or lying to Parliament or a decade-long quest to reduce the lowest common denominator yet further. It’s about what to do when you screw up.

We all screw up, you, me, and Rupert Murdoch (although the ‘whoops, I slipped’ defense probably isn’t going to hold much sway for him). One of many ways you and I differ from the Dirty Digger is that we recognize it when it happens.

Here is what you do when you screw up

• You get in touch, straight away, with the people affected. You let it be known that you’ve done something you shouldn’t have, or missed something you should have done.
• You acknowledge, without making excuses, that what you’ve done has inconvenienced, upset and/or annoyed them. They don’t care that you pressed the wrong button, they care that your guest post is late.
• You apologize, gracefully and warmly, and explain what you’re doing to put things right – and give a revised timeframe if needed.
• You put things right as quickly as you can, and keep people updated about your progress.
• You find something to do to make up for it. Send flowers, offer quality free stuff, or generally go out of your way to be super-awesome to the person you’ve wronged.

It’s not your fault, but it’s your problem.

The Little Algebra Book is loved by small cuddly toys across the world.

This is what you do when you screw up; it’s also what you do when something goes wrong that isn’t your fault.

This little feller on the right is Impala the Koala, who guards my car. He’s reading a copy of the Little Algebra Book, because even cuddly koalas need to know some math. (Although Impala and Rupert Murdoch are both from Australia, the resemblance ends there.)

About this time last year, the books were supposed to be running through the printers ready to ship for the new school year. I’d pre-sold several of them, and was very excited for them to arrive… when I got a call from my brother saying he’d seen the proof copies and they looked awful, so he’d have to find a different printer, and it’d be at least an extra couple of months before they’d be ready.

Poo on a stick. Or, as Charlie put it, “You’re damn right it sucks.”

The last thing I wanted was my customers calling and saying “Where’s my Little Algebra Book? Jocinda is failing math and it’s ALL YOUR FAULT!” So I did all I could do: send out an email explaining the situation, apologizing for the delay. I empathized with their frustration, told them what Stuart had told me about the new date, and offered either a refund, a free e-book, or an extra copy of the book.

Was anyone deliriously happy to get that email? I imagine not. However, they were happier than they would have been if I’d (a) said nothing or (b) sent a curt email saying “sodding printers, books delayed, not our fault, nothing to be done.”

How not to do it

News International have been getting this disastrously wrong over the last couple of weeks (and arguably much longer). They stuck to the “rotten apple” defense while it was abundantly clear the whole basket was corrupt. They followed that with the “what’s the big deal?” card and only eventually, finally, have they started to apologize with all the grace of a red-handed teenager. It’s a perfect case study of how not to do it.

We’re not like them, thankfully. They have their own community over at #customerdisdain. Over here, we hold up our hands, say sorry and put it right.