Communication let me down...

...yes, I'm a child of the 80's!

I saw a sign this week stating that the proprietor of the business would very much like customers to raise complaints they may have directly with him in the first instance because 'it is usually a result of failure to communicate'. How true this is.

Why is it that communication is so important yet sometimes so badly handled?

I think I may have mentioned this before, but one member said that their company practices a policy of 'benign intent' - meaning that if a comment can be taken two ways then they most likely meant the one that wasn't going to upset you.
This is my life policy and I believe that most people don't set out to upset, so where does it all go wrong?

Without going into too much detail perhaps it could be based on the following:
* the form of communication - emails are notoriously short, to the point and perhaps curt
* the history between parties - perhaps clouding judgement on the case in hand
* the recipients state of mind - are they just having a bad day?

So, next time you take exception to a communication how about stopping and thinking, or going back to it the next day, and just ask yourself what is the 'benign intent'.
If you still feel upset then I suggest you pick up the phone, or even better, meet that person face-to-face and talk things through. Because, however good technology gets you can't beat seeing the whites of someones eyes to get the true meaning of their communication.