Oh, I don’t know, it’s just a phrase that gets to me when I hear it applied to citizens who speak out against the flow in local politics. So I Googled the phrase “‘Whiners and complainers’ citizens” and I got a great list of stuff.
Well, okay, to tell the truth the first search was for “Whiners and Complainers” by it self, without the word citizens involved. I got the following quote off a column by Chris Hoffman from the San Diego Daily Transcript
“Poorly performing employees (which account for many of the gripers and complainers) should have their deficiencies addressed and be put on a schedule for improvement or termination.”
Okay, “many of the gripers and complainers”? It would be nice to see some statistical analysis of that little statement. I also wonder about about the “gripers and complainers” among top management? How about the gripers and complainers complaining and griping about the gripers and complainers? Huh, how about that? Huh? Huh?
I read a little further down the column by Chris Hoffman and found out his bias, “Hoffman is the managing partner of the San Diego office of Fisher & Phillips LLP (www.laborlawyers.com), a national law firm that exclusively represents management in labor and employment matters. ”Okay, now I get it.
Nice piece by Peggy Morrow on “How to deal with gripers and complainers”
“One technique is to listen to the complaints. Use active listening techniques like eye contact and nodding to make the person feel that you are really listening. Constant complainers usually continue because they feel no one is listening. And remember in every complaint lies the seed of improvement.”
Nice discussion on Being Direct at Workforce Management
MajMike posted on 1/24/06: “Winers and complainers may be symptons of bigger problems in the org. I have found that ‘most’ people don’t complain just to complain. I agree that complaining can be contageous but that usually happens where management turns a blind eye to the situation or ‘blames’ it on a few malcontents. Ingore it and it won’t go away!”
mmeans posted on 1/24/06: “An attorney once told me, “If you have a problem that you want me to help you solve, don’t come to my office until you have three viable solutions; because if you haven’t thought of at least three solutions, you haven’t made any effort to resolve the problem yourself.” In the thirty years since then, I’ve found that to be sound advice. Might take that approach to challenge any employee raising a concern to take the initiative to be part of the solution.”
Now we get to the links from the Google search that included the word “citizens” with the phrase “whiners and complainers”.
Here’s a quote from aan article titled The Right Way to Save a Life by Harry Carter PhD at Firehouse.com
“That is my challenge to all of the whiners in society. Keep your lip zipped until you do something for your country, your state, or your community that earns you the right to shoot your mouth off. Sound a bit rough? Not really. A lot of really neat people have died, and continue to die, to gain and keep the freedoms which are taken for granted by far too many these days.”
I agree with Harry, in a way. The problem is that most of the people who I meet that think along these lines don’t stop to ask what people have done for their community, they just assume nothing has been contributed by the whiners. I especially like the people who think along these lines who don’t consider whether the whiner has ever been empowered to make changes in their community…that might even be the underlying cause of the whining. That said, I think I’d like Harry. It would be fun to chat with him in front of the barber shop…really!
I’m sure there’s more to be found, but for now this is the end of this report~!