It’s An Honor. . .
So I get a phone call yesterday morning and it went something like this. . .
“Hello Mona, my name is Ron S form the Better Business Bureau. How are you this morning?”
At this point every orifice on my entire body involuntarily puckers. Not that I should have anything to worry about. But never the less . . . You know it’s kinda like: We pay all our taxes and have an accountant do them, so we will feel like we are legally fine. However, I guarantee if I get a call from the IRS, I’ll have the same reaction.
So as my mind is running wild trying to figure out what possible trouble I could be in, Ron goes on to say, we are extending an invitation to you to join the Better Business Bureau. I begin to relax (i.e. unpucker) as words like . . . a great honor . . . due to you superior customer satisfaction . . . only those who are invited can be accredited . . . and longstanding success in the business community, begin to sink in to my consciousness.
I’m thinking “Gee, as much fun as a federal government proctological exam of my business (for the bargain price of $$$) sounds . . . I think I’m going to pass.”
Slowly my dread turns to suspicion as I pick up on the, oh so subtle hint of smozzy-ness. What is smoozy-ness you ask? Well in this instance it’s the intangible feeling that this person wants something from me, but.he’s sweet talking his way to getting there. He’s more subtle than a salesman and far less obvious than a telemarketer. And yet there’s that niggling feeling that I’m being handled.
Me: (wanting to cut to the chase) So I’m assuming there’s a fee for this?
Him: Well yes, but for you it would only be $$$. Oh, also you’d have to pass a rigorous screening process.
Me: Ah huh, I see. And is that per year?
Him:Yes. This is contingent of course on you passing the screening process, where we’d make sure you were properly licensed . . . (my mind begin to wander) . . . blah, blah blah . . . federal government . . . yada, yada, yada . . .(I can feel him beginning to wrap up so I start to focus again on the conversation) and the screening would be done every year as well.
I’m thinking “Gee as much fun as a federal government proctological exam of my business (for the bargain price of $$$) sounds . . . I think I’m going to pass.” All this for a sticker in my window and a logo on my website. And does anyone even think about the Better Business Bureau anymore? I’m pretty sure those 3 words haven’t been in my conscious thought in at least a decade.
I politely decline the offer. Ron really was a very nice guy just doing his job. And perhaps, who knows . . . maybe it really was an honor to be invited. Hmmm . . . probably not.
“And does anyone even think about the Better Business Bureau anymore?”
Who??
When I have had trouble with people I have looked them up on the Better Business Bureau and sometimes if I am considering a contactor, mostly home improvements, I will look them up on the Better Business Bureau. I understand better now why people are not listed there.
I was wondering about you non US folks knowing about what the BBB is. It’s pretty much as Angela described. You contact them to check to see how reputable a business is.
I guess I’ve been living the small town life for so long (meaning that I not only know how good the people are that I hire for something like electrical work and such, but I also know their kids names and probably their pets as well.) that I. don’t need any further information.
In regards to my business, as I told Ron, my business is in a small town (where everyone knows whether I’m honest and quality oriented or not) or at artfairs, where a BBB sticker would mean nothing.
Knowing ab out the rigorous screening though, I guess that the people who are accredited should be really good. Still, I honestly had kinda forgot the organization even exhisted.
I don’t know if we have anything like that here, but I kind of guessed that must be what they’re for.
Scott and I have this joke - if someone is supposed to be famous and we’ve never heard of them, we say “Who??” But it’s a really exaggerated “Whoooooo???” Just to kind of make the point that it’s not that we’re uninformed, but that they’re nobodies
Ahhhhh, I see.