Are we a nation of moaners?
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The bad weather has impacted upon a number of things delivery services, sports fixtures and not forgetting our overall infrastructure. Airports shut, trainlines affected, The whole country seems to have gone into meltdown (and every pun intended!!). It would appear that the number of complaints received has reached an all time high with people complaining about late deliveries and expected packages unlikely to be received before Christmas.
So are we a nation of moaners or whingers or are we justified on this occasion?
Responses (7)
There is a very simple saying.
All men moan.
All women Nag.
I think its actually very true!!!
Relatively speaking we dont have a lot to moan about compared to say someone in Pakistan thats just lost their home and possessions.
The more we have the more we have to moan about I suppose.
Some are more than others, if they put all that time spent moaning into something constructive we may actually acheive something. Perhaps actually the moaning comes from having it to good most of the time and when it goes wrong we moan moan moan. Sometimes we have to accept that things just dont go as planned. I work for RMail and I can tell you we are doing everthing possible to get everything delivered but its tough, seeing all those packets and pressies and wanting to get them all done, we are not moaning about it, totally the opposite but I bet someone is critising without understanding what is being done to try and get every single item delivered.
However, I love a moan every now and then, it feels good to let off steam but I make sure its not out on others unless they deserve it, and some do.
I worked for the Royal mail on the christmas sorting thing for a coupla weeks whilst i was a student and its really hard work - those little grey swivelly seats in front of the sorting boxes are a nightmare on the back. I can tell you where every postcode is in Britain now though¬
Do you stink when you come home Darry? - after handling all those parcels and letters i used to smell really fusty - even the smell in the sorting area was bad. My hair, my clothes and i got really bad dry hands - some of the guys got really bad infections in their hands from handling dirty parcels/letters. Paper is the ideal way to carry bacteria/mould/fungi etc.
So you do get points for having to put up with that or has it all changed now and as i surmise may all be computer controlled?
Thankfully I do not smell, not anymore as I'm now a manager of a large RM site. I was a postie before that. Lots more machinary in place now but obviously still lots done by hand.
Hi Parchester
Yes I think that we are a nation of moaners. We do have an easy time of it so when we are faced with unexpected hardship and difficulty we find it hard to deal with. I don't think that the moaning is justified though - there is nothing that anybody can do about the weather and we are just so unprepared for it - even when they forecast it, we still don't expect it to be true! But it makes us feel better to moan about it.
That said - it doesn't bother me to much - I have just battened down the hatches and stayed at home with the young ones - so I am not as effected as someone who is trying to get to work or been stuck in their car overnight! I have also seen people tonight providing tea and biscuits to those stuck in cars etc - that's one thing that the British are good at - coming together in times of trouble and helping out strangers!
I think one of the reasons why people seem to whinge more is that service levels ( in every area ) are going down all the time. The reason for service levels going down, or at least perceived as going down, is due to a number of factors ... economics, the increasing cost of raw labour, the stifling red tape that seems to increase day after day, streamlining the way we all work and probably most important of all, people's falling levels of motivation and rising levels of apathy. And as service levels go down, people react with their increased level of moans. Life should be fun and fullfilling ( so they say ) but for that to happen we all need something to look forward to or at least have something to aspire to. With the current economic and global 'sadness', I don't think people have the same levels of hope that they may have had in years gone by. And what does that produce? Whinging! But it's a natural response and in some ways can be therapeutic by releasing the things that trouble them. In my daily grind, I get all sorts of grief thrown at me and I simply let these people 'boil themselves dry' until they have nothing more to vent. But at the same time I listen, I acknowledge, I empathise, I offer different ways to look at things and I let them know that I have heard them. The result? I become an unpaid counsellor and at least people go away having had their say and hopefully with a sense of relief that they have simply told someone! So there you are, moaning can be good. And of course 'constructive' moaning in business can improve service levels.
No its also the laziness of the British worker as well and the lack of attention to detail - striving for the mediocre as someone said in a recent documentary about British education and industry and its true.
See I have just moaned yet again!!!
Yes, Mr OD, you are right ... I did use the word 'apathy' in my answer! As a nation, we have forgotten how to care about others and care about what we do and how we do it. 'Pride of Britain', although topical, seens to be a forgotten trend. I can remember the days when 'Made in Britain' was something to be proud of. But nowadays if it's a car, it has to be made in Japan for it to be classed as 'uniquely reliable'.
My view? Moaning is the essence of sanity ... makes you feel great afterwards!
Good grief, not another bloomin' question wondering if we're moaners or not. Tch, people just keep going on and on about it... Makes me sick.
Nah, we're a nation of motivated, upbeat, positive thinkers we are.
Someone has been listening to the Tony Robbins tapes again!
hehe
>;o)
Yes, we are a nation of moaners. I think Omendata's hit the nail on the head with his comment that relatively speaking we don't have a lot to moan about.
I remember watching a tv report on the Pakistan floods and seeing this young guy being hauled utterly exhausted out of the water after having just swum miles with a live chicken on the top of his head. He'd tied the chicken's leg round his own neck so it didn't drown. The chicken was his most precious possession, all he had after losing everything!
We need to stop moaning and get things into perspective!
nO WE ARE NOT A NATION OF MOANERS ...wE ARE A NATION WHERE NOBODY IS TAUGHT THEIR JOB ANYMORE ...6 PHONECALLS AND STILL YOU GET NOWHERE......
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I completely agree with that saying Omendata, and may start using that more frequently!! I am certainly a moaner, but I agree I have very little to be moaning about compared to a lot of others.