How To Be A World Class Complainer

Hey there!

I’d love to help you get your problems solved. And one way to really be good at that is to become really good at complaining.

Here are three things you should consider when going to a help site, a Facebook group, a discussion list, a software support page…anywhere you need to get help.


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Hope this REALLY helps!

David

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hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and today I want to talk to you about
something that you’re gonna think I’m
crazy for asking you to do but it really
matters it really helps if you want
great help from someone great support
you want to figure something out I’m
gonna give you three rules today on how
to complain and not just complain but I
mean be a world class complainer like
the kind of complainer that gets results
not by being you know a bitch err and a
moaner and a squeaky wheel but by being
good at seeking support good at being a
complainer I want you to be a Best of
Breed world class complainer okay
because it’s just gonna help you and
it’s from what I’ve learned I’m gonna
get you to where you want to be faster
and that’s that’s kind of what we want
right so the first thing I want you to
do when you go online and you post on
Facebook or you ask a question on
Twitter you go to a helpdesk site for a
piece of software or hardware please
please give as much detail as you
possibly can
don’t just say this sucks man it doesn’t
work or a can’t log in
you know I can’t tell you how many times
people send things like that to me for
rehearsal and I need to know why I need
to know what’s going on what exactly did
you try what didn’t work what happens
when you try to log into the the app
what errors do you get what browser are
you using what version of system
software are you using what message pops
up for a moment and then disappears what
happens
don’t just be general give as many
details as you possibly can because
eventually if you’re gonna get help
you’re going to have to give more
details because people will ask for them
they’ll say well what happens when you
log in or when you’re trying to log in
beat them to the punch give them as much
as you make screenshots figure out what
should be working or what you expect to
work and describe that you know I
thought what would happen is the whole
screen would become yellow and it said
it became green you know have you
restarted your device your computer or
your smartphone
did you try things that kind of worked
maybe didn’t work who knows what else
did you try so be as detailed as you
possibly can because eventually you’re
gonna have to cough up the details
anyway because all you’re gonna do is
delay the inevitable somebody’s gonna go
well what happens when you try this or
what happens when you try that or
whatever so that’s the first thing be as
detailed as you possibly can on our road
to being a world-class complainer second
I want you when you answer questions
when somebody asks hey does anybody know
how to do this do me and everybody else
a favor and don’t guess don’t post
something because you think you know
don’t post something because you’ve
heard that this works post when you know
for sure when you know exactly what the
answer is or when you know exactly where
to find the answer oftentimes people
will ask questions that make the website
let me google that for you com famous I
mean you can look an inordinate number
of things up to people post on on help
sites and on Facebook groups and and you
know in
timelines and stuff a lot of the stuff
that people post looking for questions
you can google that right but more
importantly when you are you get that
urge to go well I don’t know if this
will work but I’ve heard that don’t just
simply suppress that urge somebody else
will answer the question you’re not the
king of the forest this week you’re not
the the head of the class this week next
week you will be right next week
somebody will post something and you’ll
know the answer so if you don’t know the
answer please don’t post a guess ok so
that’s to be as detailed as possible
don’t post what you think you know but
post what you know the third one is and
this is something that kind of has
arisen because of the way Facebook works
because of the way Twitter works because
of the way many websites mimic that
posting comment reply comment reply
posting common reply don’t hijack the
thread
when the opie which is the the technical
term for the original poster the first
person to post something in a group on a
site you know in a comment thread
underneath a blog post whatever the
original poster of something asks a
question resist the urge to hijack the
thread oh you’re asking about
normalizing your audio to minus 3db that
reminds me what is a dB what does that
mean don’t do that don’t do that because
people are seeing that original post and
they’re reading through things and they
want the answer it happens all the time
with anything that’s remotely political
right you want to see this happen like
instantly go to any blog post about
politicians that are currently in power
immediately that’s a divisive thing
people hijack the post and call the
party that they don’t agree with the
people that are in that party idiots and
morons and it just immediately gets
hijacked doesn’t answer the original
question same thing happens with
technology somebody asks a question
about one thing and then someone kind of
hijacks the thread and moves asks a
different question I kind of reminds me
of you know this um plus if you do that
the chances of you getting your question
answered that new hijacking the thread
question answered becomes more remote
because it’s buried in all of the
comments so what do you do instead
instead of hijacking the thread start a
new one post a new comment don’t post a
new question after there’s been a series
of answers in a thread don’t hijack the
thread so what have we said be as
detailed as you possibly can right post
what you know not what you think you
know and don’t hijack the threat if
you’ve got a new question that something
has reminded you of post it originally
as new post a brand new comment so that
everybody else can can fall in line and
help you out so that makes sense
if you do these things I guarantee you
that you will get to the answer faster
if you can provide all the details you
can if you don’t post what you think you
know but you actually post what you’re
sure you know and even then you could be
wrong but at least you’re closer to the
to the to the point and then finally
don’t hijack the thread if you do all
those things I guarantee you you’re
gonna have a much better time trying to
figure things out okay so a little bit
of practical advice today I’m David H
Lawrence 217th if you want to sign up
for my my channel here on YouTube if
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one that I’ve just recently released and
in the meantime I hope you get your
problem solved
I do I’m David H Lawrence a seventeen
thank you so much for watching and I’ll
see you tomorrow

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Responses

Leave a Reply to Nikki Bryce

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  1. Thanks David! Do you know if there is a way to find something like “posts by me” on a Facebook group instead of having to scroll through all of them to find a previous one you are looking for?

  2. Oh my! #2 drives me crazy. I hate speculative answers. If you don’t KNOW, bite your tongue, calm yourself, and let someone else answer.