The Idea Blog

I just bought my first fake Christmas tree. I always vowed I’d never have anything other than a real tree since I grew up with a fake one. But for various reasons (a big one being lack of time) I changed. We carefully picked and purchased what we felt was an attractive tree of good quality.

The first thing I saw upon opening the box was this giant warning label. Not a good way to make an impression. My translation: “We already know this product will most likely be defective. And you’ll be ticked off and try to take it back to the retailer. But they’re ticked off too and don’t want you hassling them. So spare yourself the exercise in futility. They agreed to sell you our product if we agreed to tell you to not hassle them. So if your tree is defective, and it most likely will be or we wouldn’t insert this big-ass warning note, call us and one of our indifferent call staff will try to calm you down and explain how you can fix it with a coat hanger and some paint.” My tree however was not defective. It went together like a champ and looks awesome. I love it. But the nature of their note had me pre-loaded for bear. And had there been even one tiny thing wrong, I would have made a brutal call - as opposed to an inquisitive one - to customer service. They saw it as trivial. I saw it as a warning. Seems a little consideration and forethought could have changed the note from a negative to a positive.