I had a new book release
a few weeks ago.
Sales were great.
Most of the reviews were awesome.
The first review,
however,
was not-so-awesome.
The reader was upset
she had to wait “so long”
for this next book.
She haunted the bookseller site
until the book went live
and IMMEDIATELY
gave it a bad review for that reason.
How long had she waited
for this book?
Two months.
(The previous book
was a complete story.
It had no cliffhangers.)
The review upset me.
I viewed that reader (customer)
as being ungrateful.
It threatened to ruin
what would otherwise be a great day.
So I offset this lack of gratitude
with an act that would earn me
the gratitude I needed.
One of my regular readers (customers)
had a birthday coming up.
I gave her a free copy of the book.
She thanked me.
She was touched by my gift.
She was grateful.
Her gratitude offset
the other reader’s lack of gratitude.
I was happy once more.
If a customer/business associate isn’t
giving you the gratitude
you believe you deserve,
get it from another source.