Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/coping-with-the-chronic-complainer/5004637/
It's the end of the day, and you're out front chatting with parents as they arrive to pick up their charges. Then, up pulls Beatrice Boswell; and suddenly you remember that memo that needs to be written this very moment.As you close the door of your office, you break out in a cold sweat, thankful that once again you've avoided Beatrice's litany of complaints about the potholes in your driveway, the runny nose that her dear Rupert got last week ("At your center, without a doubt!"), your scandalously high fees, the shoddy condition of the swing set in the playground ("If the Health Department wasn't staffed by bumbling fools, they'd shut you down in a minute!"), how you're never around to talk to.
No director is spared. Every center has at least one Beatrice. It may be a parent, a teacher, the owner's husband, a board member, or, God forbid, your secretary. No matter who it is, the results are always the same. Every conversation with Beatrice soon deteriorates into her whining about a seemingly endless string of injustices. And, if you try to respond to her complaints ("The swings are perfectly safe, they're just in desperate need of a paint ...