Fine Line Between Squeaking and Crying Wolf

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” so the saying goes. But there is a fine line that needs to be tread. Because if you squeak too loud for too long, eventually, you’re seen as the boy who cried wolf.

I work with clients every day. And I paid my way through college by waiting on tables. I’ll tell you that I’d take a customer that tells you what’s wrong over one that pretends everything is okay until they get fed up and either explode or fire you (for something you didn’t even know was a problem) or fail to leave a tip, any day of the week.

That being said, common sense needs to be applied. If you treat every single error as if it were proof of idiocy, eventually, no one is going to listen to your concerns any more.

I strive to never even have a misspelling on any of my communications. I read through emails sometimes up to 10 times to make sure they read well and are clear. But still, I’m a human being, and some times, there are mistakes.

We’re all human. If you want to get good results from anyone you work with, you need to praise as well as point out errors. And you need to use a SCALE in the urgency with which you suggest corrections to errors be taken. Squeak softly if it’s a small issue. And save the screaming until you actually see a wolf trying to eat your sheep.

Otherwise, no one is going to want to work with you at all.