Writing Wit & Wisdom #5

The letter

Here is my latest Writing Wit & Wisdom post that I welcome you to read, comment on, and share. And here’s a LINK to Ransom Notes where you can view the articles I’ve posted so far. Thank you!

A Cartoon

Writing quotes

I am my words. ~Bob Dylan

Inspiration comes slowly and quietly, for what we write today slipped into our souls some other day, when we were alone and doing nothing. ~Brenda Ueland

To me the greatest pleasure of writing is not what it's about, but the music the words make. ~Truman Capote

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again. ~Oscar Wilde

And more…

Al Capone supposedly said, “You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” This may be true amongst gangsters, but I choose the kind-word-alone path. In IBM management school we learned that it takes seven positive interactions with an employee to “offset” one negative one. We should never forget, or underestimate, the impact of positive feedback.

In July last year, there were times when I had trouble starting our Jeep. Some days it fired right up; other days it took some work. I made an appointment to have the battery (and electrical) checked at our local car dealership. I was pleased with the experience, so I sent the following letter, not expecting to hear back:

July 22, 2024

Dear Rochester Chevrolet Cadillac

I bought my 2017 Jeep Cherokee Latitude from you in 2018 and have been bringing it in for service ever since. It wouldn’t start one morning last week, but after a short wait it fired up. I suspected the battery might need replacing, so I called for an appointment.

I was impressed with Amanda *****’s help. Upbeat and cheerful, she was able to find a time later the same day for my dropping it off. I was also impressed with the results. Technicians ran several tests, found the battery to be in good shape, and could not pinpoint anything else that might have caused the “no start.” Amanda called to report this and said I could stop by any time to pick up the Jeep.

I was pleasantly surprised to see there was no charge…not even for the diagnostics time. I came away reminded of why I like to do business with you – your honesty (you could easily have said the battery needed replacing), your expertise, and your friendliness. All these and more contribute to why I keep coming back to Rochester Chevrolet Cadillac. Keep up your fine work!

A few weeks later I brought the Jeep in for an oil change. Amanda was on duty, beaming from ear to ear when she saw me. “You’ll never guess what happened to that nice letter you sent. The OWNER stopped by with it to thank and congratulate me. It made my day!”

Though our Jeep service was fine before I sent the letter, Amanda now seems intent on providing even better (red carpet) treatment. For the cost of a postage stamp and a few minutes of my writing time, I think I won a friend for life.