A snarky apology email actually made me respect the brand more

I used to think any brand that messed up should grovel for days. Then I got a bad batch of coffee beans from a roaster in Portland, about $38 worth, and their response was this super dry, sarcastic email that admitted they rushed the roast because of a supply issue. It said something like 'We know this tastes like burnt regret and we're fixing it.' No corporate speak, no fake sympathy. That honesty made me laugh and I ordered again the next month. Now I think most apology statements are worse than the original mistake because they all sound exactly the same. Anyone else ever get an apology that was so blunt it actually won you back?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaret_williams51mo ago

Isn't being honest about the mess-up way better than pretending it didn't happen?

christopher_wells41mo ago

Honestly, the real issue is that most people aren't just dishonest, they're lazy. It takes way more effort to own a mistake and deal with the fallout than it does to just shrug and hope nobody brings it up again. I've seen it with crews on job sites all the time, where a guy will double a small error into a big one just because he won't stop and say he screwed up. The pretending part is usually not about saving face, it's about saving the energy it takes to fix things. But that energy comes back tenfold later when the problem gets bigger and way harder to hide. So yeah, honesty is better, but only if you're willing to do the work that comes after it.