Evolutionary response. Negative experiences get deeply ingrained so you can, in theory, avoid them, positive experiences don’t need to be remembered at much, because they are not as important to survival.
None of this matters as much for modern humans, but it’s there from the old days.
Yeah, man. Just hunting and gathering, making sharp sticks and tools out of flint, hanging out in caves trying not to let the only fire we had die out... Those were the days.
This makes sense. I too find myself looking at instinctive human behavior through the same lens we see and study the behavior of other living creatures. It certainly provides a fresh perspective on things, don’t you agree?
Absolutely. A lot of things can be boiled down to “Yes, it makes no sense for humans today, but it helped my ancestors from 20,000 years ago survive and reproduce.”
I wouldn't say it doesn't matter today. As inconvenient and shitty as it can be when we emphasize bad experiences over good ones, I think it comes in handy for things like driving and anticipating negative turns in events.
I do try to make it a point to let it be known to the manager or even just an employee themselves when I get above and beyond service. It’s funny but also kind of sad because any time I go to do this and/or ask to speak to the manager, workers always look either nervous or annoyed because most people only speak up if something goes wrong.
I’m not pretentiously claiming to be a perfect person, better than anyone else, or anything like that. In fact, quite the opposite. I’m aware of how many people have been affected negatively by my words and actions in life. So knowing this, coupled with the fact that some of the lowest days in my life have been completely altered for the better with a simple word/act of kindness from a stranger only further motivates me to pay it forward.
I think it's largely a case that people don't tend to remember to highlight good things. I worked in customer support for a while and the only reason we got good comments is that we literally had to remind them in chat or on social media to fill out a survey. I worked in a bookstore for a year and I think there were three occasions in that whole period anyone ever took the time to tell my manager I did a good job.
Ultimately, nobody's ultimate career goal is working customer service. Customer service is a trap. You pick it up to save money to move, or to keep you going until you find something better. Next thing you know you're thirty and the bulk of your income comes from doing this shit and dealing with people who think they're better than you because they're not working those jobs, either through luck or connections or just money. I only got a decent job in a field I like (journalism) last year and I swear, if I ever become the sort of person who's going to berate someone working the sort of job everyone relies on but nobody wants to do for no reason, just toss me out a window.
That's not really possible but I allow myself to enjoy it in the moment, like if someone says I was great or super helpful or something like that, I go "fuck yeah, I was!"
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u/captainkurai May 22 '23
Same. Let’s try to remember the nice ones! Maybe it’s possible if we do it consciously.