“SORRY” Shouldn’t Be The Hardest Word..

Living in the Eastern world doesn’t mean that you will live among the nicest people on earth. I sometimes wonder why do people say that we are amazingly friendly, when actually we don’t. We only have a huge attraction to any kinds of foreigners and anything that we don’t see everyday. This includes snakes with two heads.. ;)

 

It’s shameful though, being an Indonesian and have to hold the temper whenever got bumped in the malls, stepped on my feet in the most impossible location to get stepped, got pushed and taken over in the queue, got my car uselessly scratched by silly motorbike riders or stupid drivers, and lots others. I’ve stopped at the streets, got my nerves, looking for a “justice” but what I’ve got so far was never come by in a shape of “I’m sorry”. Of course that won’t probably work much in covering the repairing costs, but do you ever feel much worse after hearing an apology? Maybe no.

 

I read on The Economist’s View, an article posted by Mark Thoma on September 23rd titled “What’s An Apology Worth?”. Nice to finally see an empirical evidence about the advantage of saying sorry. I know it’s kinda late to write about it right now, but not getting an apology from those who “wrongly caught my interest” mostly cause me bad mood… :D

 

It is so true reading how saying sorry costs you nothing and even returns with benefits. Surprising though, how professional “apologists” are hired out there to say sorry and there are still people who don’t want to say it. Imagine a career being an Apologist… Don’t think of puppy eyes or even fake crocodile tears on your face, it’s the way you state the apology that counts.

 

For companies, saying sorry is a part of “taking care” of the goodwill. Goodwill itself is the most expensive abstract thing that the companies have. Do a slight flaw, don’t apology, be tough and don’t even care about it. Boom!  Their good reputation will get blown in a moment. I’m pretty sure that any kind of companies have known about the customers’ sensitivity. The more sensitive they are, the more careful you need to be. Based on the research done by Nottingham School of Economics' Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (and written on Mark Thoma’s post), it’s found that people are more likely to forgive those who say sorry rather than those who offer cash as compensation. But to be honest, as a greedy girl, I prefer both to relieve my nerves and relieve my purse. :D

 

So back to the non-apologist people around me, maybe this goodwill won’t appear to be their biggest asset. This is extremely contradicting as because most people will just tell us about the importance of inner beauty. So let’s make an example:

-- If you ever got bumped by a big bag owned by a somewhat good looking person and s/he turns and say “Sorry”, even just a slight pass before s/he flies away, you will feel okay. But if s/he does NOT turn to say it, the next thing comes to your head will be “Pretty and impolite.. What is that being pretty for? Oh! Fake branded bag!” --

The result, of course, will vary to one person to another. At least, that what will come to my own head soon after.

 

So if you don’t say sorry after making up even a slight mistake you unintentionally do, how will you keep your precious “goodwill”?

Saying sorry is economically proven to be very advantageous! Try it.. It’s not costly at all! ;)