…and form letters, and customer service notes that sound like customer service notes and most anything that was obviously written by lawyers trying to sound like lawyers whenever it’s not 100% necessary.

Like this note I got the other day from eBay’s customer service department, which includes gems like:

“Thank you for taking the time to write back to eBay regarding your concern…”

“I would request you to check your Account Status Page where you can easily get the detailed report of the fees charged on your account…”

“If you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reply to this email and let us know…”

(Yeah, I can tell they’re dying to hear from me.)

Compare that to this note from Moo cards:

“I’m Little MOO – the bit of software that will be managing your order with us.  It will shortly be sent to Big MOO, our print machine who will print it for you in the next few days.  I’ll let you know when it’s done and on its way to you…”

“Remember, I’m just a bit of software.  So, if you have any questions regarding your order please first read our Frequently Asked Questions at: http://www.moo.com/help/ and if you’re still not sure, contact customer service (who are real people) at https://secure.moo.com/service/”

One of these companies is communicating that they care about every interaction and that personal connections matter to them.   In one of these companies, the naysayers lost, the people saying “Yes, but…” failed to choke the life out of things, and doing something memorable was more important than avoiding looking silly.

No one ever loses their job because they took something great and made it unremarkable.  And that’s a real shame.