ARE YOU A MOANER OR A COMPLAINER?

A guy I used to know once said to me "The trouble with the British is that we're moaners, not complainers!"  Could be he was right, could be he was wrong, but I found it ironic that he fell under that description himself.  We used to 'do lunch' regularly, and he'd sometimes say "These beans are cold" or "They've given me a buttered roll and I asked for a plain one", but when I suggested that he mention it to staff, he wouldn't - but would still leave a tip (when it was his turn to pay), even though he was dissatisfied with the food and/or the service.

I mentioned to him a couple of times that he was just as bad at moaning and not complaining as anyone, but he'd say "There's no point making a fuss, I'll just not go back there."  I replied that there was no need to make a fuss, but that it was entirely possible to politely say that something wasn't quite right in a way that wasn't likely to offend anyone.  Y'know, like "Excuse me, I hope you won't mind me mentioning it, but the beans are a bit cold."  What's wrong with that?  But no, he much preferred to stew in his own juice and not say anything.

It occurs to me that, his way, the staff were deprived of the opportunity to put things right and - more importantly - to learn from their mistake and avoid repeating it in the future.  People will never know they're doing something wrong unless they're alerted to the fact and given the chance to fix it (and thereby improve), but this obvious truth was either beyond his comprehension or he was just another moaner of the kind he liked to moan about (or both).  Funny that he couldn't see that truth for himself.  People, eh?

Anyway, with that in mind, how would you describe yourself?  Are you a moaner or a complainer - and do you have any true-life examples with which to regale us by way of illustrating your point?  Go on, give it a try!  You wouldn't want me to moan about lack of comments, now would you?

Posted in: Cartoons