Christmas consumer complaints

i am working part-time for a toy distributor - an interesting choice of work to begin during the Christmas season. nothing like the convergence of new employment stupidity factor and the high pressure of retail supply and demand. . . and on-time delivery.

it's not brain surgery but the burden of making sure what the customer ordered is what the customer gets. . . well, it is a heavy one - especially the first two weeks of December. no one in the company wants to know they were responsible for disappointing a child on Christmas morning.

although we do our best to keep mistakes to a minimum, we are only human, and have been known to err on occasion. this has led me to wonder about the error factors of elves and Santa's employment of said non-humans. . . but i digress.

i've said all of that to say this. . . "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

if you need to return a gift because it is not what you ordered -
remember, "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

if you need to return a gift because it is what you ordered but it was not portrayed clearly enough in the picture or description- so in that respect it is not what you thought you ordered - remember, "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

if you need to return a gift because it came broken, crushed, or missing pieces -
remember, "you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

just in case anyone is unclear about the whole flies, honey, and vinegar thing. . .

"You can win people more easily to your side with gentle persuasion and flattery than hostile confrontation."
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition 2002

i'm not sure about the flattery part. . . but it probably can't hurt.