Psychologist Thijs Launspach is a stress expert and author of the book Breeding pressure† He marvels at modern working and gives tips every week for more happiness and less stress at work. Today: think for yourself.
Making an appointment for an internet connection with one of the providers in our country is very easy, I noticed. You go to a website, fill in data and indicate when you can. Your appointment will be confirmed on your screen on the spot: Friday in two weeks, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Less than a minute later, an extra confirmation will appear in your mailbox. Unnecessary, because you have already neatly put the appointment in your agenda; after all, you knew immediately when you had to be home.
But then it starts. A week before the appointment you get another reminder: you have an appointment, don’t you? Three days in advance: another one, ‘Whoa! Appointment!!!’. Just when I think they’re done with me, text messages follow. The day before and on the day itself. If they had the manpower for it, they would still be at my door in the morning: date this afternoon, don’t forget, huh?
Training thinking muscles
If it were just the internet provider, it would have been up to that point. But it is also the gym, parcel deliverer, airline company, car rental company, hairdresser and the dentist. It is not illogical for a company to do this. They simply want the number no shows to limit. Sending a mechanic to someone who is not at home or setting aside time for someone who does not come costs money. However, there is a risk involved. If you treat your customers like toddlers, don’t be surprised if they start behaving that way.
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You can also trust that people can keep track of their appointments themselves
The less you have to think, the less you train the thinking muscles. You can also see this with dying skills. A few years after Google Maps, nobody learns to read maps anymore (annoying, when you’re lost and your battery is dead). A calculator makes us less good at mental arithmetic. With a spell check, you lose the ability to spell. Ask a modern person what the weather is like and he will look at his phone instead of outside. We are becoming more and more convenient people that you have to hold by the hand. Which you have to send fifteen reminders, otherwise they forget an appointment. Of course you don’t have to: you can also rely on people being able to keep up with their appointments themselves. For God’s sake, let us think for ourselves, before we lose that ability!
I asked the mechanic – who had called politely because he was late – what he would have done if I hadn’t been home. He raised his shoulders. ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘then I was just a little earlier at my next appointment’.
Thijs Launspach is a psychologist and stress expert. He wrote the books about this Breeding pressure (2018), Working with millennials (2019) and Work can also be done (2020).
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