Everyone gets their ******* in a bunch from time to time. If someone was hounding me with phone calls, when I know I didn't do something right, in a weak moment I might get irritated, expose myself for being the faulted human being that I am, and just shut the door until I wasn't so busy! We are all human, and you can't expect everyone to be a prince all the time. Sometimes guilty parties need a little time to address an issue. It happens. The harder you push someone who is in the wrong, the more likely they are to "close up", and the slower their response will be. This is human nature. (No one is walking on water around here, right?) I'm not saying that this type of behaviour is right, I'm just pointing out the reality of human interraction. which can help us deal with situations.
You fight with your wife, don't you? (Don't lie!) And you married her!!! So how much more common is it that two men occasionally lock horns? In the end, Bob will do what is right, because thats his basic nature.
I'm not trying to defend Bob so much, as I am trying to show how human nature works, and knowing and understanding this helps us all get what we want out of situations better, instead of becoming whiney itchbes. Part of good "people skills" means looking beyond the shortcoming of another, and getting them to do what is right. You can point out their faults later, over a drink or whatever, but first you need to get results. How we approach another person who has done something wrong, or owes us something, etc, can make all the difference in the speed and effectiveness of the resolution.
Here's a real life example of what I am driving at- My wife complains to Lowe's Home Improvement that she has been waiting for her special order for several weeks, and damn it where is it? (Etc, etc) She gets put on hold repeatedly, and each time some low-paid **** manager/sales puke gets on the line, she has to recount the whole excrutiating story over again to the next person who suppossedly is going to help her. I had a suspicion at this point that someone just dropped the ball, and the order never got placed. No low-level employee wants to get caught in a goof, so they avoid the issue, by not returning phone calls. (Especially if you are mad, you influence them to "shut the door" on you) Maybe they think most people will just blow it off, chaulk it up to the fact that there's no gravity, the earth just *****, and walk away. That of course, is not good customer service, but we all know large retail operations hire the lowest paid help they can get away with, and this is the reality of how many things fall through the cracks, by employees who just don't give a sh*t what happens to the customer. (Is it lunch time yet? Can't wait for Friday, I'm going to the river!) So how does a person get satisfaction, when going up against a big faceless corporation? If you are a real hot-head, you could go postal with your Glock, and that is the tough talking internet answer of so many Walter Mittys, who in actuality can only accept their sad fate with abject humility, when up against the immoveable might of a Lowe's, or other equally big and insensitive organization. You could also "sue 'till your blue", and if you do, they will make your contingency lawyer run away, once he sees their 20-mule team of corporate lawyers coming over the hill on thier mounted calvary. ("No quick settlement here, so sorry gotta run, I hear an ambulance over yonder") Put a lawyer on retainer? For what, a misplaced order? That would be akin to insanity. So what to do? Get mad? Kick the dog? Lets pick up our story where we left off-
Each time my poor little wifey has to tell the story to the next voice on the line, she gets madder and madder. And I, being the fine husband that I am, repeatedly offer to take up the issue for her, but she is on a mission now, and wants to prove that she can resolve it on her own.
And the madder she gets, the less anyone wants to talk to her, and pretty soon they even don't care what her problem is anymore, she is just an enraged itchb now, and when she calls, she gets put on "death hold"! So I say to her, they are now making a fool out of you, don't talk to the low level people anymore, you aren't getting anywhere with them. Call headquarters! So she does, and I get the guy on the phone, and I tell the mid-level manager in my calmest, but most clear and serious voice, that if we don't get satisfaction, the issue will go to the top, and heads will likely roll. He got very attentive!!! A few days later, my wife's products mysteriously appeared. Good thing that guy didn't know that I had no idea how to contact the "person at the top", but I made it sound like I did!
So the lesson here is that-
If you are wronged, don't keep doing the same thing over and over again, like telling your story to everyone in the organization. You expose yourself as weak minded and petty, it makes you look like a silly monkey, then you will get ignored, and marginalize yourself into a gadfly. The more venom you spill into another person's ear, the less likely they will want to do anything for you. That ain't right, of course, but it is human nature.
