The fight for feedback, as any vendor will know, is an ongoing one. And it is not always one that can be won.
When one doesn’t get regular feedback, it can be very discouraging and, of course, the obvious conclusion to come to is that people don’t like one’s products….but this isn’t always so.
I don’t believe in harassing people to provide feedback, I don’t like to be chased and browbeaten into anything myself – certainly not for reviews or feedback – and I believe that (mostly) no feedback is good feedback…….if the product was bad people would shout very loudly about it without any prompting, I’m sure!!
So, a lot of the time, I just let things go, but chasing up some feedback is on my long list of things ‘to do’. I am wary of doing it though, because, of course, by rattling that particular cage, one might wake up the Demon of Disgruntledness, who I like to leave sleeping, thank you very much.
Today, I have been prevaricating – I feel a bit under the weather, with a bit of a dicky tum, and a bit of a fusty headache, but I know I should get something done. Should I chase up feedback to back up what I am doing, or get something done which might be of interest to my already engaged audience? I did myself a tarot reading, to give me some inspiration…….
……….which was pretty interesting actually. The Seven of Cups suggests making some choices with regards to relationships (well I was wondering how to engage with my audience work-wise), the Four of Cups suggests feeling of boredom or lack of enthusiasm (yep, the feeling of ennui I was experiencing – mind you that was more my physical ability), the Ace of Pentacles (get going on your business, Missus! – ok) and the Four of Swords (needing rest and recuperation after a trauma (absolutely. If losing your Mum isn’t a trauma, what is?).
Pulling all this together reminded me to tell you a tarot tale of what happened whilst I was sitting with my dying Mum, recently, and it also happens to contains some feedback, so BINGO!!
Mid way through the last week of my Mum’s life, we (my sister, brother and I) were sitting in her nursing home room, keeping her company. We knew she was dying, and we were spending the whole day, each day, with her. On the Thursday, I decided to take my tarot cards with me. Mum was sleeping a lot, and having the cards around was a welcome distraction, as it was to one of the senior nurses who clocked them on a visit to Mum’s room.
‘Oh,’ she said ‘Tarot cards.’ Then she looked at me with wide eyes. At first I thought she was going to tell me off (that’s my Catholic upbringing!) then I realised she wanted a reading.
I didn’t really want to do a reading, so I gave her my cards and the leaflet of meanings and suggested she tried doing a reading for herself (she had said she was into tarot when she was younger). Off she went with my deck. I didn’t think much more about it until she appeared again, just after lunch, when she plonked my cards back on the table in Mum’s room, then knelt down, elbows on table, making it clear she had time for a reading should I be willing. ‘I have an issue,’ she said.
I’m a nice person, so I thought I would do a quick reading for her – Mum was asleep and we didn’t want to wake her. I gave her a 9 card Past, Present and Future reading, which indicated she had a relationship issue which was long standing, and which needed sorting out pretty soon, the cards also advised her how handle it. I then followed it with a three card reading to ask what would transpire if she followed this advice. The Sun made an appearance along with the Three of Cups, and another card which I can’t remember now. I said all would go well if she handled it the way suggested by the cards. She nodded (she wasn’t a great conversationalist), thanked me and headed off. It was strange, it was so perfunctory, and no mysticism was present, or felt, by any of us and, to be honest, I was a bit embarrassed that I had to do it in front of my siblings (the nurse wasn’t bothered)……..I was under some pressure really.
About four hours later, the nurse, came in again. ‘You were spot on with your reading!’ she declared. ‘Everything you told me in that reading happened this afternoon. I took the advice of the cards and, because of doing that, everything has worked out brilliantly – it’s all sorted and done with and I am very happy! Thank you.’ she said, then turned on her heel and disappeared. I looked at my sister and brother who looked back at me with the same surprise that I must have been showing. ‘Oh good. Well, all in a day’s work.’ I muttered, or something similar. No payment, no reviews on a website, no star rating. Just her words and my witnesses. Although a carer, the next day, told me that the senior nurse had told everyone about it at the team meeting they’d had that morning. Somehow, you feel there should be a way of this being clocked up, highlighted to the world, but there isn’t. My Mum died the Friday night, so I haven’t seen the nurse much since then, and all the focus, naturally, was on Mum at that time. But how strange was that! And it seemed so surreal! It was a surreal time anyway, and I still don’t know why it happened, in such a strange place, at a strange time, when we had our own issues going on. It certainly was a reading that was meant to be given and I do believe there will be a knock on effect from it, I just haven’t seen anything yet.
So, the tarot has taught me something new, that I can use feedback in a different way, like writing this blog about what happened and who knows whether it will have a longer term effect than five stars on my website, or whether this will inspire people in other ways who might not even be looking at my products?
And also, I’ve learned that it’s ok to blow your own trumpet, once in a while, because if you don’t who will?
Patricia x
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