I started a business. It made me want to drink copious quantities, smoke myself into oblivion and hit my head against a brick wall. Instead I wrote a blog.
Site Launch Day: 13
User Count: 21
Going right: Active Users climbing; feedback on products good so far.
Going wrong: All users from direct pushing with offer of free credits.
Comment: Pushing very tiring...will I have to give out free stuff forever?
As our daughter struts merrily around the house @ 8am having kept us up all night, blithely unaware of everyone's baleful stares, I wonder how Margaret Thatcher ran a country on 4 hours of sleep a night. I read somewhere that it was only on becoming a parent and regularly understanding how little sleep this is, that you finally realized MT was indeed as mad as a can of beans. (Am supposed to cite reference, but one hit in Google and I can't find it. Am too tired to do anything further).
Whether it's because I am pregnant or just selfish, I lay there at 3.45 hearing my boyfriend sing (and I use that term in the loosest sense of the word) lullabies, having kicked him out of bed to "deal with her" even though night duty is officially mine. A hangover from breast feeding days. She finally got to sleep at 5.30 and then woke again at 7.30 chirruping with the birds. The thing is, that even though she has kept us awake, one toothy grin of delight and my heart melts. It is impossible to be angry at her.
Like my accountant. No matter how many times she doesn't deliver a payslip on time (and it has been often), or has an error in her reporting, when I see her - to tell her what's what - she immediately gushes in superlatives...
"Oh yes, I am SO sorry - I COMPLETELY understand how you must be furious. The technician is coming round to fix the synching on my computer TODAY. There's a time stamp issue on my dropbox." Then she dazzles me with a smile which takes all the wind out of my sails. Consequently, I have apologized to her twice for being so crabby, when I am the client not getting the good service. I am still with her because actually it is quite nice to be able to complain to someone and get a smile back. She's ok as an accountant and the smile more than makes up for it.
You would do well to remember this. The same goes for email/text. Compare the following two sentences.
- YOU ARE A LOUDMOUTHED TWAT.
- You are a loudmouthed twat ;-) >-) :-p
If I received the latter, sure I would think that the joke was inappropriate and the sender was an idiot.... but if I received the first, it would definitely be taken as an insult.
So my lesson today is: learn how to use smilies. They take the sting out of your online sarcasm (if, like me, you can't resist it) or downright insults. Whilst in posh, proper, corporate emailing, smilies are still a no-no (god knows why smiling in emails is not considered professional), the habit of using them will earn you secret points - and smiles - with many recipients.
See a list of smilies here. Too tired to write anymore. Going back to bed |-O