Apologies that contain the word "If".
You know the ones. When the super athlete mows over 13 people with his SUV while he's autographing the navel of the lady he just picked up. And so he goes in front of the camera's and is all contrite and says "I'm really sorry if I hurt anybody."
If he hurt somebody.
IF????
IF?????????????
Um... dude. There's NO IF. You DID hurt someone.
Another example. Someone said something inappropriate and you call them on it, telling them you were a offended. And they say "I'm sorry if you were offended"
Well... I just told you I was, so again, there's really no IF.
IF makes your apology sound like the only reason you're saying this is because someone is making a stink, and you want it over. You're not REALLY sorry... more along the lines of sorry you got caught.
So when a customer complains and says "I was mislead by your sign" don't come back with "I'm sorry IF you were mislead" How about "I'm sorry that our sign isn't clear. We will take steps to fix that right away."
IF you're sorry - be FULLY sorry.
IF you're not really sorry - don't pretend to be.
Posts
11 comments:
I'm so with you!!! It reminds me of when I was in 6th grade and my Mom made me appologize to the gym teacher because I called him "Corndog" his real name was Mr Conn. I told him I appologize for calling him "Corndog" even though I still thought he was a corndog but only because my Mom MADE me do it. Darn, I could have used "IF" instead of using the whole truth, lol.
I completely agree. It's like they aren't taking responsiblity for the hurt that they cause....like if you were hurt, it was your fault for being there.
You started a really interesting conversation between my husband and me. He doesn't see the distinction between "if" and "that". I would be interested to hear what they men out there have to say on this topic.
Right on, Lizzy! Per usual, you are correctamundo. And I'm sorry if you think I'm being overly zealous, but I concur wholeheartedly!
Oh, you're one of those customers are you?
Actually - I am one of those people who is VERY quick to compliment, and when something goes wrong at a place I like, or with a product I like, I tell them, so that they can fix it and not do damage to their reputation.
YOU are so right about IF!
Oh my. I use if. And I use it exactly the way that you describe...because I am not sorry at all. But...then it leaks over into when I really am sorry...ugh. I need to think about what I say before I say it. Which I am tend to not do...
Using IF like that makes it not really an apology at all, because you're not acknowledging that you did wrong. If you're truly sorry, there are no ifs.
CaraBee is right. IF is not an apology, it's just an acknowledgement.
"I'm sorry" is an apology. Actually meaning it is a different matter ALL together...
I guess you're right. When I apologize to Stevie I say IF b/c I really don't mean it. Most times I'm just doing it to pacify him.
And IF anon has something to say then they should man up and use their real name.
Post a Comment