

The Power of Nice - sgk284
http://stevekrenzel.com/the-power-of-nice

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tptacek
A slight spin on this concept: if you're in line watching someone get harassed
by assholes, be extra nice when it's your turn. It's an opportunity. In Vegas
at Black Hat a few years back, I watched 3 or 4 consecutive parties harass the
person at the check-out counter. My turn, all I said was "wow, rough day huh?"
I got upgraded to a suite.

~~~
mncaudill
Exactly. Airline workers especially are quick to acknowledge a kind word.
Their jobs are hell at times, and when someone offers some kindness, it is
often returned in forms of vouchers and bump-ups.

~~~
chris11
"Their jobs are hell at times"

Their jobs can be hell. The last time I flew, I got stuck in a airport both
ways because of weather trouble. Unfortunately thousands of other people were
stuck with me. The line to just talk to a flight attendant literally took
about 11 hours to get through.

I was on a break at the time, so the experience wasn't horrible for me
personally, but it must have been a nightmare for the flight attendants. They
had staff not show up for work. So basically overworked staff had to politely
deal with thousands of angry and tired passengers.

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silentbicycle
The way people treat others they don't have an immediate incentive to be nice
to speaks volumes about them. If somebody is rude or manipulative to waitstaff
on a date, for example, you _know_ that's going to come out later in the
relationship.

When somebody is acting nice for purely selfish reasons, it tends to be quite
inconsistent.

~~~
donw
One of the best pieces of advice my mother gave me was 'date the waiter' --
because when you're on a date, the girl you're with is going to pay attention
to how you treat the staff, because that's how you'll treat her.

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chris11
The idea that cursing customer service representives is helpful is really
wrong.

In most cases they have done nothing to cause your problem. Sure, they might
not be able to help. But if that is the case, just move on and try contacting
someone else. Cursing them out will do nothing, and just guarantee that they
probably won't do anything extra for you. You might as well be nice.

