A Vicious Goodwill Cycle

In my last job, working for an online retailer, if a customer complained enough, we were authorised to send them a gesture of goodwill — typically a £5 or £10 gift card — and we, as agents, advised that they would receive these within three to five working days.

I got a call one afternoon from the girlfriend of our customer, fuming that her boyfriend hadn’t received his gift card yet — this was on the fifth working day exactly — and she demanded a gesture of goodwill because the gesture of goodwill was late.  

She didn’t get it.