a word to the wise, choose your words wisely.
Many people throw words around like dead skin cells, easily and thoughtlessly. Don't get me wrong. It's fine to kid, to joke around, to prevaricate, to tell stories, to ramble on, to be random......to indulge in whatever communicative purpose - that is the entire purpose of words to begin with. However, what annoys me is when people misuse words. Say what you mean to say, with the words that capture the actual meaning of what you want to say. I hate it when people string the wrong words together to say something, and then tell me that I've misunderstood them. Your words do not match your intention. Your words do not match your meaning. How can I understand you when you use the wrong words?
It takes me a long time to write almost anything because I weigh my words carefully, rolling them about in my mind to test out their nuances before presenting them to the world. Of course, this is much more difficult to do when having a conversation, which is why I'm always rather socially awkward IMO. Friends have kindly reassured me that this is not the case, but I can't help but go over conversations post-mortem and beat myself up sometimes over the things I said that I did not really mean in quite the way I uttered them.
Most people don't do that. I get it, and try not to take all words too seriously, especially those during real-time conversation. I still have trouble being as forgiving with the written word, however. Writing things down takes time, and implies organized thought and sharpened intent. When writing, one has the opportunity to reference things and craft one's message. There is really no excuse for sloppy communication in writing. (Well, unless one is physically or mentally compromised in someway......)
One of my pet peeves is with incomprehensive marketing messages. I'm the type to actually read through terms and conditions before buying something. When companies announce a certain promotion, I expect them to live up to their word. They can include all the exceptions and requisites as they like, but the point is that they must include these conditions in their original printed statement. I hate it when companies whip out a previously undisclosed condition and just brush it off as a mistake. Haha, not funny. My time has already been wasted in believing their faulty words, and trust is a fragile, fragile thing.
A company I shall not name frustrated me today. They are running a promotion for the month of June whereby if one purchases items in total of USD60 and above, one gets free international shipping. I love the products of said company, and have not been able to find them here in Finland, and so was more than happy to discover this site and said promotion. Unfortunately, when I proceeded to checkout and pay, the total included a whopping USD30 of shipping charges. When I contacted customer service, I was glad with the promptness and courtesy of the response, but not so glad with the actual response itself. The representative checked, and checked, and checked, and ultimately responded that Finland was considered "too long-distant to get free delivery". .....ooook, sure, I knew Finland was at the edge of the world, but as far as I understand, Finland is still part of the world, and thus included in the word 'international'. Choose your words better, people!
Oh well. I am frankly more amused than bothered since I felt it was a stroke of extraordinary luck to find this site to begin with. It also helped that I was already in a good mood prior to this entire shenanigan. Better yet, the company actually emailed me an hour or so later to say that they would live up to their word and give me free shipping to the desolate plains of Finland (my words, not theirs :p) once they have fixed the bugs in their system which insist on charging me shipping fees. They say they will contact me again to notify me when that happens. For now, I will take their word for it and wait. We'll see just how much water it holds.
It takes me a long time to write almost anything because I weigh my words carefully, rolling them about in my mind to test out their nuances before presenting them to the world. Of course, this is much more difficult to do when having a conversation, which is why I'm always rather socially awkward IMO. Friends have kindly reassured me that this is not the case, but I can't help but go over conversations post-mortem and beat myself up sometimes over the things I said that I did not really mean in quite the way I uttered them.
Most people don't do that. I get it, and try not to take all words too seriously, especially those during real-time conversation. I still have trouble being as forgiving with the written word, however. Writing things down takes time, and implies organized thought and sharpened intent. When writing, one has the opportunity to reference things and craft one's message. There is really no excuse for sloppy communication in writing. (Well, unless one is physically or mentally compromised in someway......)
One of my pet peeves is with incomprehensive marketing messages. I'm the type to actually read through terms and conditions before buying something. When companies announce a certain promotion, I expect them to live up to their word. They can include all the exceptions and requisites as they like, but the point is that they must include these conditions in their original printed statement. I hate it when companies whip out a previously undisclosed condition and just brush it off as a mistake. Haha, not funny. My time has already been wasted in believing their faulty words, and trust is a fragile, fragile thing.
A company I shall not name frustrated me today. They are running a promotion for the month of June whereby if one purchases items in total of USD60 and above, one gets free international shipping. I love the products of said company, and have not been able to find them here in Finland, and so was more than happy to discover this site and said promotion. Unfortunately, when I proceeded to checkout and pay, the total included a whopping USD30 of shipping charges. When I contacted customer service, I was glad with the promptness and courtesy of the response, but not so glad with the actual response itself. The representative checked, and checked, and checked, and ultimately responded that Finland was considered "too long-distant to get free delivery". .....ooook, sure, I knew Finland was at the edge of the world, but as far as I understand, Finland is still part of the world, and thus included in the word 'international'. Choose your words better, people!
Oh well. I am frankly more amused than bothered since I felt it was a stroke of extraordinary luck to find this site to begin with. It also helped that I was already in a good mood prior to this entire shenanigan. Better yet, the company actually emailed me an hour or so later to say that they would live up to their word and give me free shipping to the desolate plains of Finland (my words, not theirs :p) once they have fixed the bugs in their system which insist on charging me shipping fees. They say they will contact me again to notify me when that happens. For now, I will take their word for it and wait. We'll see just how much water it holds.