The performer confidently steps up to the microphone. The audience is waiting with bated breath. The silence of anticipation is deafening. She surveys the audience, silently taking a preparatory deep breath.
And then the silence is no more. An explosion of sounds drops like a bomb: ‘weeeeee…yowl…boom…whine…snap, crackle, pop, pop, pop…”
I cannot imitate with printed words. I can only name them: screeches, howls, crackles…
That’s called ‘microphone feedback’, but that’s not what I’m going to write about this week. My topic is feedback, feedback offered by a recipient of a service, user of a product or a reader of any publication.
I’m in the habit of giving feedback to the provider of any of the above. The simplest form of appreciation is “Thank you!”, accompanied by a smile. At an entertainment event, an applause is appropriate, cheering is somewhat stronger. Whistling is not among my all-too-few talents. Tipping, and quantity thereof, servers is a controversial practice.
And now to my experiences regarding giving product feedback. The first was regarding length of tent poles I wrote to the manufacturer: “When back packing and touring by bicycle, your folding tent poles are double the length they should be.” The company responded, agreeing. Six months later, I received a parcel containing a set of new production line of short poles.
After travelling through Europe and North Africa for nine months in a factory-fresh VW camper van, I sent a letter of suggestions to the manufacturer in Westfalia. Its contents included, “During cold nights the fibreglass pop-top dripped with condensation. We eliminated that chronic nuisance by sticking felt carpeting to the ceiling.” In the following year’s edition, that feature became standard.
During that same period, one of the small propane cylinders shut-off valve for our little cooking stove didn’t. Potentially very dangerous! Another letter sent. A month later, a box with a dozen cylinders arrived, along with an apology.
The moral of the story: companies do respond to criticism and constructive suggestions. I’ve been writing “Dances With Words” every week for 25 years. My request is this: if you have any criticisms, constructive suggestions, or even compliments, my E-mail address is nuthilltoo@gmail.com.
L’article This week is about feedback est apparu en premier sur Cornwall Seaway News.
