Today I receive a letter from the son of one of the men who died last week. Meticulously written in capital letters, but with correct spelling, it stated the following (I paraphrase)
DEAR DR,
I WAS SORRY NOT TO BE ABLE TO MEET YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME WHEN YOU CAME TO SEE MY MOTHER LAST WEEK. I KNOW MY DAD COULD BE A DIFFICULT CUSTOMER, BUT I ALSO KNOW HE HELD YOU IN HIGH REGARD BOTH AS A DOCTOR AND AS A PERSON. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE KIND CARE AND ATTENTION YOU GAVE HIM OVER THE YEARS
It's always the same. The people you feel you simply gave your usual standard of work to are always the most grateful. And the ones you felt you went out of your way for, travelled the extra mile, as it were, are so often the ones who end up putting in a complaint.
But I am wary of allowing a glowing testimonial like this to go to my head. I offered to show my appraiser last year the sheaf of "thank you" letters I had received the previous year and he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. "I don't want to see those" he said, "Let's see the complaints book"
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