Retardex – not as stupid as it sounds

I was very rude to someone last week. And I did it impulsively on Twitter, so it’s up there for all to see.

Actually, I was very rude to a suite of oral care products, rather than a warm body… but it still made me feel a teeny bit guilty, when they replied very politely.

Me (flippantly) on Twitter: Retardex is an awful product name. Is it aimed at stupid people with bad breath?

Retardex marketing person (nicely): we know it’s not the best name, but visit http://www.retardex.co.uk/why-name-retardex for the history. Nearly 500k customers in the UK though 🙂

The response from Retardex was fast, appropriate, and minty-fresh. (As they have a page explaining their unfortunate brand name, I can see that I am not the first person to comment.)

It’s not you. Wait a minute, yes it is …

Having recently moved countries, I am still in the boring set-up phase. I’ve been quite shouty on the phone with various phone, bank and TV companies.

And each time I have upset my assigned customer service representative. A typical exchange might be:

Me (shouty) on the phone: I don’t know why I’m calling. I called because you keep sending me text messages to call you. Why don’t you know who is sending these messages? Your message doesn’t tell my why I need to call. Can you stop these messages?

Customer service representative (annoyed and a bit snippy now): It wasn’t ME…

Me (shouty and interrupting): OK. Of course. Not YOU – it’s the system, the process, the computers, the morally bankrupt society without strong gender-appropriate role models! Just fix it.

So, weirdly, I feel a bit silly for being rude to some expensive toothpaste, but not at all guilty at making friendly Fiona or smiling Sam hate their jobs.