I don’t know about you but I have noticed that more and more companies and healthcare providers seem to be asking for your opinion on how they are doing. Frankly, I am finding this slightly annoying. My mom broke her arm last April and a trip to the ER, a hospital stay, rehab and doctor’s visit have followed. She has received surveys from the hospital, the rehab facility, the home healthcare agency and her doctor. All have been at least 4 pages long and had prepaid postage. I’m sorry but isn’t this increasing the cost of healthcare. And  do they really think a 80-year-old can fill in those little circles.

I had the oil changed in my car last Monday and you guessed it on Tuesday morning there was an email with a survey asking about my experience.  I will tell you I wasn’t totally honest about my experience because I was “cutting” the service person some slack.  She was actually very nice to the male customers but a little rude to me. I have never had a problem with the male service representatives but she was just annoyed with me. She asked me if my car is a V4 or V6. I had never been asked that before and I don’t know the answer. I know the make, the model, year and  my license plate number. I got the impression that me not knowing that was an affront to womanhood. That same day I went in a well-known office supply store and as the clerk handed me my receipt he commented that I may want to complete a survey about my experience. And a clothing store the week before wanted me to go online a complete a brief survey.

I am just a little confused by this whole survey thing for a few reasons. First I don’t think it can be a reliable way of getting feedback. How many people actually complete the survey and send it back? How many people are totally honest when they complete it? Second some of the questions can’t really be answered by a number scale. Third how much is this costing?  Is it cost effective? I am thinking  businesses could train their people to be proud of the work they do and then we wouldn’t need surveys and they could lower costs.

A random thought about surveys:  Years ago, I was  playing Family Feud with my siblings and cousins and the question was “name something connected with Caesar” and my cousin said “salad”. But the best answer ever while playing a boxed game with siblings and neighbors was while playing Jeopardy. The answer was “Hitler’s first name” and my sister said “What is heil?”. Our neighbor fell off her chair she was laughing so hard and it still makes me smile.

Another random thought: I have friends who were on Family Feud. They didn’t win big but they had a great time.