‘Nice’ is a word seldom favoured by the literate cognoscenti. It lacks the forceful kicks of ‘passion’ and ‘hate’. Its tepid endorsement is so pallid that it can even be said as an insult. And yet it is in common use to endorse what society regards as acceptable. It would be inaccurate to describe many of the statements coming out of The White House at present as ‘nice’. I think they aren’t meant to be.
Two restaurants I patronize have the same cuisine of comparable quality and similar prices. The staff in one are attentive to my needs, remember my preferences and always ask how I am. Staff at the other are purely functional – efficient and with a rather ‘remote’ air. Which one do I prefer to go to? No prizes for this answer.
Two fairly routine maintenance jobs that have to be done on a regular basis are carried out by different contractors. They do specific work but each supplier could, if necessary, do the others’ job. Both cost roughly S$6,000 a year. One contractor is a cheery fellow with workers who greet politely and pass a kindly comment suitable for the season. The other is po-faced, tight-lipped and unspeaking unless asked a question requiring a reply. When a member of his team does speak it is to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
By how much would the glum contractor have to reduce his price to get the cheery contractor’s business? As far as I am concerned the answer is over 20%.
Two massive High-Tech organisations provide services we use in our work. Both are efficient in the supercilious way high-tech can be. One answers queries promptly and provides an accessible human panic line for looming disasters. The other enlists a code sequence of mechanistic complexity with a robotic ‘person’ if all else fails. The robot glows with idiotic fawning. Again, not difficult to guess which is the like and which, the dislike.
Funny that a high-tech organisation aiming to reduce employers’ headcounts doesn’t see the difference between Efficiency and Engagement? Odd that some workmen dealing with people’s homes and daily lives don’t see the sales advantage of Friend over Functionary? You may think it is even more bizarre that a home-substitute restaurant can’t imagine how much a Domestic Smile improves Home Cooking. They certainly know it does at home.
The tide is turning and will do so at an increasing speed. And the people who need to notice that are the international companies who dictate their process from the center often with little understanding of local culture or customers’ growing resentment of poor behaviour.
At a rather superficial glance I saw seven major companies whose handling of their customers could not be called nice. In other respects – technical, efficiency, modern, slick, even clever – they were top class. The edifice crumbled for lack of niceness.
Does this mean they need more Public Relations? Absolutely not. PR has so often become a facade to mask the rough stonework of a structure. What they need is better relationships at buyer level. You entice a buyer by being nice not just by being smart. Those relationships are not corruption. The world is tired of that and will soon be striving to outlaw it properly.
A new phrase to coin the idea I am suggesting:
“Decent price plus being nice
Better than smartness locked in ice”
Good morning
John Bittleston
Your own experiences always help an idea. Please send them to [email protected]. v
03 February 2026
