My flower shop ladies have gotten an opportunity to witness just how powerful social media, such as Facebook and Yelp, can be this week. An employee of another flower shop in Springfield reportedly hit a puppy while out making deliveries. The puppy owner contacted that shop to express her dismay over this even. Rather than meet her with kindness, compassion, and an expression of sympathy, the owner chose to put the blame on the puppy owner for allowing the dog in the street. The conversation went south from there and the shop owner threatened the puppy owner with violence.
The puppy owner's sister posted a message, along with a picture of the cute little 2 month old puppy that was killed. In her message she reported that the puppy had been run over, the driver got out and looked to see what he hit, and then left. She said that the owner of the flower shop (which she named) threatened her sister with violence when she called to discuss.
In less than 24 hours, the message had been shared over 900 times. There were over 200 comments, most expressing rage at the flower shop. People began flocking to that shop's Facebook page to make some rather mean comments and to give them a 1-star rating. They did the same on Yelp.
The shop posted their side of the story, in which they said the puppy owner told the driver to leave the scene. They did not issue any apology to the puppy owner. This further enraged people. Eventually that shop had to take down their Facebook page.
Finally, last night, the shop must have apologized to the puppy owner. The sister posted a message to that effect and said that they appreciated the shop owner doing the right thing and she wished them well. Only 2 people commented on that post.
As I explained to my flower shop ladies, social media has the power to make or break. It doesn't matter which story is the most correct. People were already enraged because there was a horrible story attached to a picture of a cute, baby animal. Although the shop tried to post their side, the mindset of the people was already made, and since there was no mention of any type of apology, it was more like throwing gasoline on a fire.
I do not know what affect it has had on their daily business. One employee did say that they were receiving threatening phone calls. This was not the intention of the sister, and she stated as much, and tried to reel the angry masses back in. People were posting threats of violence against the shop owners/employees on the shop's Facebook page before it was taken down. I was a little worried for them, as were my flower shop ladies. Even though they are competing for business, they certainly do not wish to see anyone meet with harm.
If it is affecting their business, it may do so for a long time. The reviews on Yelp cannot be removed by the business (from what I understand - I'm not terribly familiar with the way the site works on that stuff). Most people will not see that the situation was resolved. THAT post will not be shared 900+ times and received 200+ comments. The damage is done.
But my flower shop ladies got to see how this can work against them. It showed them that, as a business owner, they are somewhat under a microscope, and if they should offend a customer in such a spectacular fashion, it can truly, truly, truly damage their business for a very long time. I cannot imagine my ladies doing anything so callous, so I don't think they will experience anything like this, but you just never know.
One of the psychology professors at WIU once told me that "anger comes from expectations." The puppy owner expected an apology from the flower shop owner but did not receive it. The flower shop people expected that their angry exchange was probably the end of it and the upset person would go away. People on Facebook who read the post were angry because they expected more compassion from people in the floral business. People were upset with the puppy owner because the puppy was not on a leash/in the house (it was later said the puppy had run out of the house and the owner was trying to catch it when it ran into the street). It was an unfortunate situation that became a powerful lesson for many involved and many who were watching. I wish them all the best.
