It took to long to get to the point. Plus I didn’t like the part were they said its ok to let a customer service person “have it” because you’re probably never speak to them again. That really turned me off and left me less open to any other advice that may have follwed. Here’s why:

• A customer service person doesn’t own the company. There one of the little guys.

• Taking you’re aggression out on the little guy is being a bully.

• Letting someone have it because you know you’ll never see them (or speak to them again) seems cowardly.

It just seems to read like bad advice from a well meaning friend. Maybe, in the future, I’ll flip through it again. I can tell there are probably some nuggets of wisdom in there. I just have to sift through the bad stuff and see what works for me but not now. I’m just to turned off.

Wasting Trees

That’s what chapters one and two should be called. At the risk of repeating myself, the name of the book is “The Complete Idiiots Guide to Assertiveness.” Obviously if I took a book off the shelf with that title, I already know why I need to read this book. But the more they go on telling me why they think I should think I should want to read it, the more I think maybe I should try another book. Let’s get on with it already.

I have a tendecy to be very laid back, very laid back, very laid back. Until I’ve decided I’ve had enough. Then I become very aggressive. Then I go back to being very laid back. People who know me can tell when I’m about to get aggressive and know when to back off but other people can’t seem to see my anger coming. At least this is what I’ve been told. I say that’s what they get for trying to take advantage of someone that seems “nice”. Anyway I don’t like losing my temper or even being angry. The book dicusses the differences between assertiveness and aggressivness. Over the years I’ve been trying to teach myself assertiveness, even though I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. We’ll see if this helps.

Why do some books spend the whole first chaprter telling you why you need to read the book? I already bought it. There’s no need to try to sell me.