When someone wants to criticize our work at Blackburn News, they tend to either post a comment on the website or go directly to our News Director.
But sometimes there are people who like to take their complaint directly to the source. My philosophy is that you can’t please everyone. But there are a couple of persistent complainers who like to pick away at everything and they do it in an insulting, unhelpful manner. Â One of these regulars caught me on the wrong morning the other day.
The story he was whining about was about a committee vote concerning looser rules for London city councillors to put certain items through as expenses. It’s a preliminary step. Full council still has to consider it before it’s a done deal.  But I digress…  Here’s his note and my response. I have to tell you, responding with humour-laced sarcasm  felt really good.
Lisa.
Are you restricted to number of characters in your report? You left out the indication of who voted and how. If you are going to write an article that exposes shoddy politicians, I would think the reader should have access to pertinent information as to who supported the idea and who opposed.
This is an ongoing fault I find with the “headline news” articles that come from not only BlackburnNews.com but other London media. The articles seldom go beyond absolute surface information.
Hi (reader),
Are you available to come in between 4 and 7 am and help me write articles to your liking?
I could use the help as I’m here alone and responsible for all of our output – on air, our newsletter,
on the website, social media – until 9 am.
Thanks so much.
I’ll get you cleared with security. I’m sure things will improve with your assistance!
Cheers,
Lisa
I never heard from him again!
Excellent response! I doubt he’ll write to you in any similar vein again. It feels good to be able to hand out a zing without being outright nasty, although nasty is sometimes too nice for certain comments.
Hmmm, maybe I should apply to assist, I have time on my hands. Might have to brush up on my writing skills though.
Love, love, love it Lisa. Good for you. I agree, feels so good. If you can’t say something nice…..
I wish I had your nerve. Last week a furious listener told me her “alternative station is looking pretty good” after we dared to postpone a week of listener trips for 7 days, so that those on March Break wouldn’t miss their names at 7:30. My first response was, “We’ll miss you. If a contest is enough to make you change your station, then you didn’t really like us anyway.” My second was to send it on to the boss. She called her, all’s well, but honestly – some DAYS!
I’m trying very hard to accept that “perception is reality” and if something that seems quite trivial or silly to me is bugging them, they’re entitled to that opinion. But as you can see, I recently failed miserably with that response! hahaha!