Quote:
Originally Posted by noodle
I think all of you are generalising here! First of all, I'm going to assume that apologising in the US is the same as the UK, in which case, people don't always make excuses when they apologise! Secondly, I think it's a terrible idea to prefer just an apology ALL THE TIME instead of getting an explanation! The perpetrator can get away with so much if all it took was an apology to get someone off their back! With that said, sometimes, in certain situations, I do agree that an apology would be better than an explanation!
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I am not interested in why the restaurant cannot keep my reservation. I don't want to hear they are overbooked or the manager is sick or the dessert delivery truck never arrived.
I just want to know that they feel bad about putting me out and not fulfilling their promise to me. I want to know they are taking responsibility for their mistake.
By making an excuse it sounds like they are shirking responsibility or that "we" are in the same boat.
That doesn't work for me.
Of course there are situations where I want to hear the "why", like if my doctor needs to amputate my arm or my lawyer didn't file my lawsuit in time, but when it is a matter of me having to simply wait an extra 10 minutes, I would prefer the honest apology over buck-passing excuses.