[ninwa]

I absolutely agree with his thoughts on the power of admitting fault. It's a matter of taking responsibility for ones self and it shows character. If only everyone took this advice. PS: nice reddit-esque dealio you have going on here :)

[jwecker]

Most of my life I would have agreed wholeheartedly. I still agree, but it's nuanced now. For the past while I've been growing a property management business on Maui, and I've discovered a demographic that the moment you say anything close to "sorry," you see them transform- they see dollar signs and suddenly they become monsters. We've had to enact a policy at our company- if you ask someone how their stay has been and they say "well, it rained a few of the days," whatever you do, _don't_ say "yah, sorry about that- too bad," even though that's the most natural thing in the world to say. If we ever said sorry to something like that some would immediately demand a refund for their stay (funny as that sounds). Only apologize for things that really are your fault. "Sorry, my fault" are magical words only when they are true (both parts). Turns out pretty much every hotel and property management in Hawaii has a "black list"- customers who they will not give a room to. Thankfully it doesn't happen nearly as often in tech. Corollary: trust your customer.