We are all inundated with messaging from every which way. We get voice mail and texts, email, direct messages, tweets, and even snail mail. Sometimes we just don’t have time to respond to everything and everyone, but that choice is a communications failure.
This week, I told you all about the incident with my website. The woman who was the root cause of this issue has yet to respond to any of the tweets or emails I sent her. Not a single word (and the words I would most like to hear are “I am sorry”). No acknowledgment that she messed up and that her screw up affected my business (and not to mention, cost me money). By not responding, she has made matters worse because now she has increased my anger level and shown me that she just doesn’t care.
Of course, sometimes people respond because they feel compelled to. Their parents jammed manners into them, and thus, they resent having to answer each and every message. They can become passive-aggressive and they issue responses that don’t actually respond but put it off by telling you they tell you they’ll get back to you when they are a bit less busy or when Jupiter is in line with Neptune. In a sense, this is not communication but aggression.
Sometimes we don’t respond because we don’t have an answer. This is still non-communication.
Whether you have a legitimate reason or not, when you fail to respond to someone who is talking directly to you, you are failing to communicate.
About Deborah Brody
Deborah Brody writes and edits anything related to marketing communications. Most blog posts are written under the influence of caffeine.
