This has been a sad few weeks. Now that Apple is being sued over the “poor reception” of the iPhone 4. I wish I wasn’t even talking about it, but it says something very sad about American’s litigious attitude. Apple’s response.

There is now a class-action law suit against Apple in regards to the iPhone, in fact there appears to be several. Even moderate opinions appear to espouse how Apple should give away bumpers to people who complain (well they are overpriced). 

Should they get free bumpers? 

No. Going into a store and acting like an ass does not qualify you for free bumpers or free iPhone. Even if Apple gives away bumpers with every iPhone I’m sure they wouldn’t feel any pain. But I think it’s a sad person who games the system for such a trivial item. I’ve frequently complained to companies when I had a legitimate issue with how they do business.

Probably once I got a free gift card from Dairy Queen when they didn’t honour the Free Blizzard deal that they advertised on their website. You sign up, select a store, and you get a printable coupon for a Blizzard. Simple? Well, the Dairy Queen we went to told us it wasn’t their store (it was by address so strike one DQ). I complained and was told it was an opt-in promotion. So why could I select their store from the site?

They sent me a certificate for 5$, and I went to DQ (a different one, because the other was an ass) and they wouldn’t take the gift certificate! So that worked out pretty well. A small gift for a screw up they made was fixed with another screw up. 

Anyhow, other than that not working out, that’s the light side (it worked in Ontario). 

The dark side is my coworker. She is by and large a professional corporate complainer. I used to sit in proximity to her, and over and over I heard her rudely working her way up the corporate ladder of different shops trying to get something free. She one got a splinter in a dressing room and saw fit to spend days trying to wiggle something out of them. 

Firstly, I don’t think we should presume that the company is responsible for every centimetre of wood in their stores. One might complain to the manager there, but I think it’s really insane to bring it all the way up the ladder. Especially since I heard her verbally abusing the phone representatives over and over about her “issue”. It’s not fair to bring so much bad energy (bit of a hippy statement) on unsuspecting people just for some minor gain. 

Oh, and this complainer supervises a small call-center and used to work in it…

Companies do have some budget to try and keep people happy. It’s good for everyone because it keeps the customer happy and it keeps the customer coming back. But the fact that there are people out there who are just looking for a reason to complain just seems entirely wrong. 

It’s like stories of people in bars who are just waiting to be insulted. Waiting for a reason to fight someone they’ve never met. Why is this a thing? I’ve had my bad days, and I’ve had that feeling, but to actually go and act it out, waiting for someone to bump into you is pathological. It informs every bit of the persons behaviour. 

I’m thinking that the people who participate in these class actions or Apple-store complaints are either blaming Apple for a dropped call or just want a free bumper, or a free iPod. I remember seeing a episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares US. There was a woman who complained over and over about the meal. Ramsay inspected the food, determined her complaints were shit, and told her to get out. I’m guessing there is an entire subclass of people who go to restaurants and complain about the service. They want a free meal, and they do a really classless thing to get it. 

I suppose these people just somehow got into it. They got the free pair of jeans and thought it was a victimless crime. Financially it probably is. But the fact is that these people are putting a lot of time and effort into non-productive, anti-social behaviour.