Being Pissed Off Doesn't Mean You Have A Legal Claim

from the repeat-this-over-and-over-again dept

One of the common themes we see over and over again is people filing lawsuits just because they're upset about something (to a lesser extent, this also applies to DMCA takedowns). We just wrote about Judge Posner's shredding of Apple's patent litigation strategy, noting that just because you're "really annoyed," it doesn't mean you get to sue. Famed venture capitalist Fred Wilson has riffed on this idea, talking about how he loves investing in innovators rather than copycats, and he feels a visceral emotional anger when he sees an innovator copied, but that's no reason for a lawsuit:

I have often felt that "palpable sense of injustice" when our firm is an investor in the innovator and a copycat competitor shows up. But there is a difference between being pissed and having a legal claim.

Indeed, as we've written before, we recognize the emotional response that comes about when this happens. It's natural to get angry when someone copies you. But is it a reason to go legal? That's much more difficult to justify. In fact, as Wilson notes, often someone copying you can be a good thing:

Knockoffs create competition for the innovator and keep them honest. And they provide an opportunity for those that cannot, for some reason, work with the innovator.

And, as he notes, if the original company is a true innovator, they'll keep innovating and stay ahead of the competition anyway:

If the innovator keeps innovating, as Apple and [YCombinator] have, they will do fine and will enjoy the spoils that come from creating the category and leading it.

And that's really the key in all of this. Competition is not a static snapshot. Time doesn't stand still. Innovation is an ongoing process. Copycats are often a bit behind the leader, but as long as the leader truly understands its market, it's in a much better position to continue innovating and leading. The copycats act as incentive to increase that innovation, and that seems like a pretty good thing, if we believe that greater innovation is a good thing. People have a natural reaction where they think that "copying" is bad -- but if you look at the overall impact, and the fact that it results in greater innovation from the leader as well, it turns out the opposite is true.

Ever been pissed off at a company? Here are 4 tips on what to do

Ever gotten off a call with the customer care guys and felt like shooting yourself in the head? If you are anything like me, the word frustration hardly covers it. You go through a range of emotions – shock at how absurd the company’s policies are, disbelief at customer care guy’s excuses, feeling defeated when they don’t agree, feeling relieved when they do. It’s a nightmare in most cases – and getting your own money back or extra charges removed feels like a victory. Forget about the two hours of your life that you lost – those 120 mins are never going to come back.

So what can you do?

We wish we could tell you a magic mantra but there is none (unless you know a big fish at the company you have a problem with – and you are unlikely to know someone at every company you buy products from). So, brace up, here is what you can do the next time you have an issue with a company.

4 tips

1. Call and talk to them. Before you hit me for stating the obvious, you’d be surprised how many times customers don’t even call the company when they get a bad product or service. Calling works. Most businesses understand that they won’t do well if they sell a bad product or service – just that they are not able to manage the scale of their operations. If you are a good negotiator and a calm person, you might even get the problem resolved.

2. If talking doesn’t work, escalate it to higher authorities within the company. When you are on the phone with a company, try to keep escalating the call till you get to talk to someone who understands what’s going on. If this doesn’t work, tell them that you will be forced to go to the ombudsman or file a consumer complaint. Threats don’t work, so don’t waste your breath.

3. Raise the matter with an industry authority. Some industries like insurance, banking, telecom also have industry ombudsman – a person with informal authority to pass non-binding orders for companies operating in a specific industry. Sometimes they will even call you and the company representatives and try to find a middle ground.

4. File a consumer complaint – People have various reasons for filing a complaint, ranging from it being a matter of principle to protecting others from facing the same misery to an ego clash with a company representative, and lastly to obtain compensation. Generally speaking, judges hearing consumer complaint matters are generally very friendly towards consumers and are likely to decide in your favour unless you are being unreasonable. However, don’t expect a fortune by way of compensation – Indian forums are loath to award heavy penalties.

Conclusion

Customer service standards have fallen drastically with a lot of companies trying to achieve scale at the cost of their existing customers. If you are getting a raw deal, the law empowers you to seek justice – so don’t shy away from using the various options for redressal available to you.

THE ADVANTAGE OF PISSING PEOPLE OFF

There Are Advantages to Pissing People Off

“If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative. Keep your head on straight, don’t get emotional, take the heat, and just make sure your clients are smiling.”-Scott Boras, widely regarded as the most powerful agent in professional baseball

Doing anything remotely interesting and self beneficial will bring criticism. Attempting to do anything large-scale and interesting will bring on hoards of haters. This is fine and can be advantageous – if you are adept at the art of capitalizing off of haters.

First you have to accept one fact. Pissing people off is in inevitable. If you are ever going to be a success at anything you’re going to piss some people off and sprout some haters. It comes with the success, and moving on territory. But haters can work to your advantage.

The fact that haters can’t keep your name out of their mouth indicates to others there must be something really interesting about you. A classic hater statement that indicates they have no validity for their convictions is “he/she thinks ..they’re all that/ somebody”. They never say they think it, they say you think it. This gets others real interested in what it is you are doing that makes you so special. People that otherwise would’ve paid you no mind all of a sudden start looking at you. This is your time to really shine.

Then by consuming themselves with what you are doing, if they were in any sort of competition, they remove themselves. They spend countless moments pondering you, while you’re getting on with what you are doing. Whether it’s a job. school, a purchase, looks, whatever it is they’re pissed off about, isn’t going to change..
“Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.” Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable-if you’re honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity. You’ll avoid the tough decisions, you’ll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you’ll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally “nicely” regardless of their contributions, you’ll simply ensure that the only people you’ll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.

-General Colin Powell
Let’s look at some people who capitalized heavily off of pissing off people:
 Dr. Martin Luther King (Think how far back we’d be if he let haters detour him)
 Barack Obama (He’s got haters galore and you all know it)
 Rosa Parks
 Rush Limbaugh (The man has made himself a millionaire…pissing off people)
 Any Politician – Somebody is always pissed off at them, but they manage to turn it into a positive each time
 Any successful athlete: There is always an opponent that can’t stand them. They flip the script by putting on a stellar performance and making the opponent look bad
 Nelson Mandela – his haters are the very reason he’s one of the most loved and respected figures in the world
 George Bush- Pissed off half of America- Didn’t stop him from getting up everyday continuing to piss off more people by doing exactly what the hell he wanted to do.
The Art of Pissing Off People

Now be careful with this folks. Don’t run out and recklessly start messing with people, that’s not what I’m saying. That’s irresponsible and can get you killed. As a matter of a fact you don’t ever purposely set out to create haters. That won’t help your cause at all. Trust me though, if you are about something, doing something worthwhile, going somewhere in life, the haters will find you. Leave them alone, don’t stoop to their level, and you’ll find they will do the work for you. If the racist whites of the 50s & 60s had not kept so much noise about Dr. King, they would not have peaked the curiosity of the non racist whites, who wound up supporting his movement thus giving it even more power.

Take for instance those of you that may have tackled some controversial topics. Controversy is a sure fire way to spawn some haters and piss off some people. The pissed off people are going to surely make some noise to defend their position (whether credible or not) which is going to trigger the interests of those that weren’t privy to topic at the outset. They want to know what’s gotten these people all upset, so they come to see. Hold your ground, be responsible and a as I said earlier stay on your A game. Now’s the time to win some new friends, supporters, customers, thanks to the haters, and at the same time discredit the hater as well.

Your personal attributes or acquisitions have someone up on their hind legs? Well that’s not your problem. Whatever ever it is that’s gotten their fruit of the looms in a bunch, you make sure you keep it front and center. Don’t down play any positive attribute about yourself or life to pacify some jealous hater.

Someone hating on you because of your look, style, hair. or physique should be one hell of a self esteem and ego booster. So flaunt it if you’ve got it. Just don’t cross the confident and self assured line unto arrogant. If its some material possession that’s got them all riled up, nothing you can do but enjoy the possession. Say it’s a dress; well now you have a sure shot idea of the style that looks good on you, thanks to the haters popping up. If they hate on your home, your vehicle, know then your house and vehicle must be the bomb.
Maybe you have a very successful job or business going on. Make sure it remains successful and on track. Don’t let what haters say or think have you second guessing yourself. Keep doing what you are doing and let them stay pissed off.

Don’t get wrapped up in the haters, enjoy what you have. And keep your style, class, and wits about you, and reap the rewards from people being pissed off at you

How to Stop Letting Little Things in Life Piss You Off

Have you ever seen someone complain about a parking ticket as if it’s the end of the world?
Have you been cut off in traffic and let it ruin your whole day?
How many times have you let your experience at the airport (crying baby, delayed flight, missing luggage) be the first thing you bring up in conversations with friends?
I want you to repeat after me: “these things happen”.
We all have these types of events come up in life, but successful people just go on as if nothing has happened, and unsuccessful people let it derail them.
The next time you feel a surge of anger coming on over an insignificant event in your life, go over these points in your head:

1. You look like an idiot There is no polite way to put this. When others around you see you COMPLETELY lose it over the dent in your car door, they aren’t feeling sorry for you and wondering how they can help. They are subconsciously judging you and coming to one inescapable conclusion: you aren’t in control of your life.

If something this small throws you off, imagine how you’d react to a REAL problem in life. Overreacting tells the people around you that you can’t be trusted to deal with important issues. You’re not the goto guy (or gal) when they’re in need, because you can’t even take care of yourself.

1. The only person you’re hurting is yourself Did you ever realize that when you get upset at someone who cuts you off in traffic, they generally never even know? Usually they speed off never the wiser to your insults and gestures. By getting angry, you’re doing zero harm to them while simultaneously hurting yourself even more. That doesn’t make much sense, and is a waste of your precious time and energy.

Now here the zinger. What if that person purposely WANTED to upset you (they have some subconscious need to pick on others, they’re parents didn’t love them enough, etc)? Well then they are getting the exact reaction they wanted, and you’re playing right into they hands.
If you really want to mess with someone who flips you off in traffic, try smiling and waving back, and watch the confused look on their face. With time, you can even learn to appreciate and love these people (bizarre I know) for the important role they serve in life: helping to remind you how NOT to live. Don’t judge them, they are just at a different point in understanding life.

1. Find something to be grateful about So you’re sitting there in rush hour traffic about ready to tear your hair out. Train yourself to go right into gratitude, and start listing what you’re grateful for and what good can come from this situation.

Maybe its the perfect time to make a phone call to a loved one you’ve been putting off. Maybe you can get some “reading” done on that audio book you’re listening to and be grateful for the chance to learn something new. Maybe its just a chance to put things in perspective and marvel at how far technology has come. After all, primitive mankind would have had to walk this distance. You get to SIT in an air conditioned chair barely pushing the accelerator.

There is something good in every situation, and you can find it. Even if its just that you’re grateful for the chance to practice being grateful.

Unsuccessful people are REACTIVE. They are a leaf blowing in the wind, the world is happening around them, and they are just trying to stay alive. When something bad happens, someone did it TO them and they take it personally. They get caught up in the victim mentality and take every opportunity to let people know it.
Successful people, on the other hand, are PROACTIVE. They make things happen in life and are on a mission. And by golly, they aren’t going to let some silly parking ticket take them off their mission. Instead, they say to themselves “these things happen” and move on to more important tasks.

 

It’s pretty rare that we can go an entire day without being pissed off and stressed at something. Here are just a few things to think about that may help ease that everyday tension.
Note – ways to ease being pissed off do not include bubble baths, scented candles and listening to a CD of whale music.

Avoid Bad Bosses
Bad bosses, we’ve all had them and we’ve all wondered how the hell they got to the point where they now have the power to tell us what to do, to actually have the legal right to order us around all day. Bad bosses can piss you off before they even say a word just by entering the room. As in the film Horrible Bosses, bad bosses don’t know that half our working day is spent productively on thinking up ways to make them die without actually having to take the rap for it; you know your work colleague would thank you for it. Why are they always so Hitlerish about time keeping? Two minutes late and they give you verbal abuse in front of the entire office. They never praise you to the hilt if you work two minutes past finishing time. So what if I take a few sick days off? You don’t own the company, I’m not stealing your wages. Bad bosses suck and what pisses me off even more is they don’t even realize it.

Stop Watching Reality Television
I don’t own a television so this is something I have managed to avoid for a long time. But with the advent of television online I find myself slipping back into watching those people we love to hate. The people on reality television shows such as Big Brother are picked specifically because the producers know they will piss the public off in some way. This will guarantee repeat viewers waiting on the moment when their object of hate will get their comeuppance either through verbal or hopefully physical violence from others. On the other hand, after a stressful week at work having to endure the idiocy of dick-head work colleagues it’s always nice to have someone to vent your anger at.

Stop Looking at Everything as a Sign
Everything that happens that seems a little bit out of the ordinary is not a sign of something, and if you keep believing that it is you’re just going to end up pissed off when nothing amazing happens. Having an itchy hand is not a sign that your lottery is about to come up. That flock of blackbirds that flew overhead, ooooh that must be a sign of something, look it up in your big book of pointless irrelevant everyday signs, it must mean something. No it doesn’t mean anything, and your horoscopes aren’t real either, so stop reading them first thing in the morning. If you must read horoscopes then make up your own, at least then you will have a greater chance of some of it coming true.

Quotations; You’ll Forget them Instantly, Why Bother?
Famous quotes on Facebook, I do it, I sometimes steal other people’s quotes and stick them on Facebook. I think wow that’s interesting, kind of deep, I’ve got to remember that quote when something stressful happens. Then I see that it’s an FB friend’s birthday (and spend ten minutes trying to think up something witty and just put down what I always do, ‘Happy Birthday, have a great one’) by the time that’s done with I’ve totally forgotten that all important quotation. These quote are great usually and can make you ponder in an imaginary beard stroking way for at least 35 seconds but when it comes to actually really helping in a stressful situation they are about as much use as sticking a band aid over a shotgun wound. If you had a friend who kept saying things such as ‘If you only do things half-heartedly then you are only ever going to be half-happy” whenever you were stressed you would punch them out or at least shout, “Stop with the quotation madness for the love of god, I’ve just lost my leg.” If I am feeling stressed the only quote I want to hear a friend say to me is, “Pissed off? Let’s go out, get drunk, get laid. Good times.”

Accept That You’re Getting Old
We all get old, we all put on weight, we all get wrinkles, deal with it, accept it. Your hair is thinning or turning grey, well you’re on the wrong side of 40, what do you expect? You would look pretty weird with a luxurious head of hair at that age unless you’re starring in a magic act in Vegas. It’s called the aging process and nothing but nothing is going to reverse it. Concreting your face with botox is not going to make you look any younger, in fact you’ll simply look like a walking embalmed corpse, the opposite look I’m assuming of what you were hoping to achieve. Once you realize that this is it, and it’s only going to get worse as you age not better, then you can say, “Fuck it, I don’t care” and that’s the first step to truly letting go.

Aim for Under Achievement
It’s a scientific fact that under achievers lead a significantly less stressful life than their dynamic colleagues and friends. Actually that’s not a fact, I just made that up. But if we keep spreading that ‘fact’ around, people may start to believe it and I won’t have to feel guilty about not trampoling out of my bed every day at some inhumanely early hour, creaming my pants with joy that another 24 hours awaits me. Start your day off downhill and keep going that way, it takes a lot less effort.