I can tell that have a fixation with feedback and quality improvement for services. Sometimes however I want to give feedback not to improve the service but to make people feel better.

I went to the local coffee shop to pick up a bag of freshly grounded coffee to use it at home. I typically use an app to preorder that, mainly because I use my miles. Because of that, the interaction is minimal, I enter, say hello, I pick my order, and I leave. This time I had to wait a little bit longer. I noticed that the one and only employee there, was happy but also a little bit stressed. Out of the 3 times we spoke, she said 4 times “thank you”.

I thought to tell her to relax, I was not testing her (although I was examining the interaction) and that the fact that she was excessively saying “Thank you” was looking a little bit awkward. However, I restrained myself from doing it, picked up the order, I said THANK YOU! And I left.

Conclusion

Sometimes we want to give feedback on the fly. Without intermediates, without reviews, without forms. Just plain human interaction. Sometimes we are reluctant to do so, because we might think that they do not want our opinion, or that we do not want to sound as weirdos. Nevertheless, it is nice to say a good word, to help them feel a little bit relaxed, something that will lead to better relationships on the long run. Or better brewed coffee.