Not long ago, when I visited a doctor's office, I saw the right way to deal with unhappy people in practice. We had been sitting in the waiting room with several other people for about an hour and there was no word from the doctor. The man who was sitting in front of me was tired of waiting and the whole time he was flipping through a series of tattered magazines and constantly squirming in his seat. He was impatiently shaking his legs and looking at his watch every few minutes. Finally, he ran out of patience and went to the receptionist and knocked hard on the glass of his room. He opened the door and said: Yes sir? can i help The man said firmly: What is the situation? I had time at three o'clock. It's four o'clock now and I haven't seen the doctor yet!
In response, instead of any explanation, the curator went through these steps:
Step 1 (Agreement): You are right sir. You had a doctor's appointment at three o'clock.
Step 2 (Apologize): I'm sorry for taking so long.
Step 3 (explaining the reason): The doctor is involved in surgery.
Step 4 (Action): Let me call the hospital and ask how long it will take for them to finish.
Step 5 (Acknowledgement): Thank you for understanding the situation and thank you for being so patient.
The man's anger subsided after seeing the attendant's behavior and hearing these words. What else could he do in front of such kindness and grace!
Therefore, in dealing with unhappy people, instead of wasting our time explaining and justifying, the only thing we need to do is to face the situation by saying the right and timely sentences.