So the other day, I was getting the mail when I heard voices. Loud voices. I live in a (usually) quiet neighbourhood, so any noise would cause me to tilt an ear, but this wasn’t regular day-time chatter. I heard two men yelling at each other.
From what I could gather, there was a contractor working on an older lady’s house and a random neighbour was accusing him of ripping her off. There was yelling and threats and more yelling and more threats, followed by some “you don’t want me to come off these steps buddy!” talk.
Now, I obviously don’t know all the details. Like, who is this random neighbour? (I did learn that he does not live with aforementioned old lady). Or what service this contractor was providing, but it doesn’t matter.
And while it’s possible that the contractor was 100% in the right and this neighbour was poking his nose in where it shouldn’t belong . . . the whole episode gave me such an ugly feeling that I can tell you: I won’t be hiring that contractor for anything. Ever.
(While I wasn’t able to see them, I did see the truck with the company name parked outside.)
You see, you never know when you’re being watched. I was maybe 20 feet from these men who were slinging loud obscenities and threats at each other. They couldn’t see me because I was hidden by the mailbox, but I sure as heck could hear them. And I didn’t like what I was hearing . . . not one little bit.
If you own your own business (or are acting on behalf of a business), it’s vital that you represent yourself accordingly. There’s a right way and a wrong way to deal with confrontation, and threatening someone loudly for all the neighbourhood to hear is totally the wrong way to go.
I left the mailbox not giving two hoots about that contractor. Not that I was feeling overly fond of the neighbour either, mind, but it was the contractor’s behaviour that left a vile taste in my mouth.
So, the morale of the story? You never know who is watching or listening to you. You never know who is reading your Facebook page or your Twitter feed. You never know who might be overhearing you speak to an unhappy client.
Potential customers are lurking everywhere and how you act affects your future business. So, before you post anything to your Facebook page or twitter feed, just envision the customer behind the mailbox. Ask yourself, “is what I’m about to say ok to be overheard?” and you’ll be just fine.
(Shameless plug time! If you’d like some help with your own social media reputation management, give us a shout. We’d love to help!)
Do you have a story like this where you were turned off by a company based on the conduct of one of its representatives? Or perhaps you have an opposite sort of story where you hired someone based on how you saw them help an old lady across the street? Please share by leaving a comment and we’ll have a little chat about it!
Photo credit: tmax66
Thanks for visiting our blog Charles and commenting! We couldn’t agree with you more. Once you start representing a business, whether it be one you own or one you work for, you stop being just yourself and start being part of a company. Your words and actions reflect that of a company and there are always potential customers listening in! Even I hadn’t overheard that shouting match, no doubt the neighbour will tell all his friends and family what happened, losing the contractor even more potential clients.
Whether it’s justified or not, any representative who has contact with the general public is a reflection of the entire company, and a single moment of bad judgment can do a lot of damage. It’s surprising how many companies don’t realize this. Your post is a perfect example. That contractor may have lost a ton of work that day, and he has no idea why.