If you ask my husband, or my sisters, or many of the people who know me well, they will tell you that I’m not happy unless I have something to complain about.

I usually only complain to the people I am closest too, to those who love me and will put up with a little whining. I won’t complain about a cold entrée at a restaurant, or to a clerk at a store when I have to wait too long, but I have no problems nagging my husband to take out the garbage.

I’m not going to tell you that there are two types of people in the world, the complainers, and the people who get complained at, because all of us have a little of both in us. It’s something I am trying to work at, to complain less.

Working for a newspaper, we get a lot of complaints. Sometimes it’s because we didn’t cover an event, or cover it the way somebody wanted it to be covered. Sometimes we get complaints for covering things that some think shouldn’t be covered. We make mistakes and people call to complain – that is good. If we don’t know we’ve made an error we can’t fix it.

When I worked in a deli slicing luncheon meats, I would get all sorts of complaints. The meat is cut too thin, the meat is cut too thick, the meat is too fatty, the meat is too lean. My favorite complaint was, "I left my meat in the car for just a couple of days and now it’s green. Please give me a refund."

There is no way to please everybody. Somebody is always going to have a problem with anything, because we all have different ideas about the way things should be.

I remember, as a new wife, recently having left my home in Canada and unable to work, I spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning. One afternoon, I spent a lot of time working hard on preparing an extremely fancy spinach soufflé. It was very pretty.

My husband looked at it and said, "What is this?" He took a couple of bites and announced, "This would be great if I were starving to death." Now he eats a lot of sandwiches, because I know he just doesn’t appreciate haute cuisine. I figure, why bother?

Then there are the people that I know who work hard, trying to make better our little slice of South Texas. These people are actively involved in all sorts of groups and clubs, trying to bring tourism dollars and economic growth to the area. Many of them are working behind the scenes and don’t often hear any words of encouragement. I have seen some wonderful events and great strides made in our community, and I’m sure that these people, with the best intentions, often hear complaints.

I want these people to know that they are appreciated. That the little improvements they are working towards are making a difference. I don’t want them to think, "Why bother?"

Please, keep bothering!

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