'Expectation' is where it's at for me

I find that if someone tells me something i.e. something's going to be delivered on this day at this time, or this will happen then and there etc, then I absolutely expect it to happen. And if it doesn't it upsets me - a lot!!

If you're in a service industry then I think it's super important to set expectations realistically. I was recently awaiting a very personal item that was having some maintenance done on it. When I dropped it off at the store I was told it would probably take approximately 6 weeks which seemed a long time away but at least I had an end point. At the halfway mark of 3 weeks I called the store to just ask how things were going, not to put pressure on, just to check up on my beloved item. This was on the Thursday and I was told by the store lady that actually my item would most likely be ready on the Saturday. I was thrilled and so very excited. However Saturday came and went with no call to collect my item so I assumed that she must've meant the following Saturday, as really it seemed too quick anyway for it to have been the one that had just passed. But when the next Saturday came and went with still no update I was so disappointed as my expectation had been reset but obviously it had been reset incorrectly. So I rang the lady at the store and explained and she apologised as it wouldn't be ready for yet another week. She had given me advice based on someone else sharing info but hadn't qualified it fully. As you can imagine there was much more conversation in between but the moral of the story was that I was fine with an end point of 6 weeks so why ruin it by setting unrealistic expectations?! I suggested, and she agreed, that to keep the 6 weeks deadline until the item was in her hands, then she could make the call to me.

I now have my item back and it seems so long ago already but a similar thing happened over this Bank Holiday weekend with a delivery that never came so it brought this issue to the forefront of my mind again.

My advice in this situation is really simple - set the longest expectation so that it's realistic, then if you can bring it forward with a definite confirmed new date then brilliant, everyone will be really happy. But until you can do that then just leave it as it is, at the farthest date, the expectation that's already been set and doesn't need resetting with guesses. Trust me, your customers will be so much happier, I know I would have been.