After yesterday’s rant, it seems only fair to report that we had an email from a satisfied customer today. He was impressed with the quality of packing and the speed of the service. Sometimes we do get it right. We get positive feedback via eBay all the time but much of it is meaningless. It’s all part of the artificial “have a nice day” culture we have imported from the USA.

Along with Pollyanna and cosmetic dentistry, it has never caught on in Europe and reference to Wikipedia reveals that I’m not the only one who has negative feelings about the use of the phrase.

I had to laugh as I researched it. As with so many “new” “Americanisms” it comes from the UK, and is first recorded in 1205 and was frequently used by Chaucer in the 14th Century. However, there are many things in Chaucer that wouldn’t fit in the 21st Century, so that is not necessarily a recommendation.  It’s amazing how many things turn out to be our fault.

Anyway – feedback on eBay is such that any average service (such as putting a properly described item in an envelope and sending it by post after taking money for it) is described as “positive”. Surely it is what you should expect and is more properly described as “normal”, “average” or (in modern eBay usage) “neutral”.

It is always nice to get a message from a happy customer, despite us just doing our job.

Then we had an email from a customer who we had refunded last week, much against our wishes, but he insisted instead of waiting. He told us the item had arrived and that he would like to pay for it. This is unusual. Normally they just keep it and ignore us.

The payment came in just before the end of the day. He is American, by the way. When I do the emails tomorrow morning, would it be hypocritical of me to thank him and tell him to have a nice day?