Taking the Path of Least Resistance

Sometimes the easiest way is not the best way to live our lives

Many people make a habit of taking the path of least resistance. It is easy, it is a way to avoid hassles, it is a way to avoid confrontations.

Some people like to live their lives with their heads down, or with their phones surgically attached to their ears, detached from the real world.

If they think they are being overcharged, they just pay up to avoid making a scene.

If they still hear a noise under their hoods after they pick up their car from the repair shop, they just let it slide.

If the clerk insists the deal period is over, even though you know it isn’t, you just pay the full price.

This is not always the best way to live your life. Some people are born hustlers and petty tyrants who deserve to be confronted.

They take pleasure in flaunting their positions of limited power over people who would just rather meekly accept their dictates.

These are the kind of people who need to be checked. If you know you are in the right, insist on them doing the right thing.

Confront them, catch them in their lies, and insist on talking to a manager or their immediate supervisor about the issue. Don’t shy away from escalating the dispute, you are helping the next person in line.

At the very least, try to get their full names and promise them you will be contacting their regional office and complaining about the incident.

If they refuse to give their full names, you already have them. Just make sure they know you are not bluffing, and follow through on your words.

Tell them you will be making a fully detailed complaint on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, or OpenTable as well as emailing or even phoning their head office, depending on the nature of your complaint.

Chances are that you are not the first person who complained about a certain surly clerk, blinded by his/her tenuous link to temporary power.

People like that usually bounce from job to job because they hate working where they are. Usually, they will get their wish, but as long as you get a fair resolution of your complaint, that is no longer your problem.

The fact is, the people who own the company, restaurant chain, or car repair place don’t get any profit or repeat business from making their customers unhappy.

They don’t want other customers to think that is how they operate, what they represent. The owners don’t want to have you make a scene.

The owners see the big picture and want to get their nut, realize a profit, and have you return. When you get to the next level, that is where you will get results.

This is how it should be.

Even if it ends up in a compromise, you will get some satisfaction.

You will get more results this way. Be pleasant, and logical, but insistent.

The owner’s bottom line is not best served by their employees harassing customers with shoddy repair work, being rude, or giving out ignorant advice.

Of course, we are not all perfect people either. Some things are just not resolvable. If you are cut off in traffic, then just shrug it off.

Don’t give in to road rage, just let it go.

If you turn out to be in the wrong, don’t hesitate to apologize.

If you didn’t read the fine print, then accept the fact gracefully and make a memo to yourself to just learn from your experience.

I am definitely not advocating going around looking for trouble, but if you are right, you are right.

We don’t live in a flawless world, but good service should be rewarded and bad service called out.

If you don’t register a legitimate complaint, you are just empowering the offending clerk/website to do the same to the next person in line.

Stand up for your rights and get what you paid for. Sometimes, the path of least resistance is not the best way to go.

It is the easy way out, but it just perpetuates a wrong. Don’t encourage it.

Stand up, shout, let it out. Think of it as a favor. We are all connected…