TIL that one specific apology trick actually works

My buddy swore that saying 'I was wrong' without any excuses was the only way to get people to forgive you, so I tried it after I messed up a job quote by $400. The customer actually let me redo the work instead of leaving a bad review. Has anyone else seen a simple apology fix a situation where you thought you were done for?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavin_kim23h ago

Had a buddy who forgot his anniversary and just said "I messed up" with zero excuses and his wife actually laughed it off.

amyh1222h ago

Hold on there - maybe she wasn't really laughing it off, but was laughing at how bad he messed up (which is a big difference). I've seen couples where one person laughs nervously to cover up actual hurt feelings, so it's tough to tell from just a story. Probably worked out fine for them though, since he didn't try to make up some lame excuse.