In this story of Twitter cancellation attempts, the canceller happens to be on our side of the argument. That, however, does not excuse it, nor is it the reason it caught my eye. What triggered my interest was the robust response.
A boss has been hailed a ‘legend’ for standing by his employee after a ‘keyboard warrior’ tried to get her fired by emailing her company to complain that she called him a ‘f***** w*****’ in a Twitter row over Brexit.
Now, I know full well that sometimes customers deserve this response. However, as a representative of the company, it is beholden on one to be polite. You can effectively tell someone they are a wanker without actually saying it. It is possible to engage the acid put-down without losing your temper. I know, I’ve done it in my time. I recall the irate member of the public that had accosted me while out teaching a student on the way to test – one of those who didn’t like learner drivers driving down “his” street. I refused to engage at the time – beyond pointing out that it was a public highway and the car was road legal so we were perfectly entitled to be there – as we had other things to worry about.
He phoned later to tell me that he didn’t like my attitude, to which I replied that this was absolutely fine as I didn’t like his, so we were quits.
Anyway, having tried to get this person sacked, the response from the company was equally robust, which is good. However, again, this could have been worded more professionally. Frankly, the email was pretty dreadful and not what I would expect from a company and I dread to think how they reply to customers with genuine concerns.
So, on balance, well done for resisting the cancel culture, but try harder to be more professional in doing so. A polite but acid response is, in my experience, more effective anyway.
It’s a pity that so many organisations cave when faced with a Twitter warrior. It’s a shame that this one couldn’t have been better.
We can admire their integrity, but – as with Yorkshire Tea – without feeling the need to give them opportunities to insult us. I for one will be getting any beard products I might need elsewhere.
I don’t have a beard, so irrelevant to me. However, their general approach to customer service leaves much to be desired. A robust response to cancel culture is spoiled by unnecessary abuse.
Politeness doesn’t cost anything. He could have just referred the gentleman to the reply given in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram and left it at that.
That would have probably been my preferred approach.
It is also more fun if the insultee does not immediately realise they have been insulted.
For additional fun string the mark along for a few edxchanges.
Such larks.