The COO and co-founder of a metal water bottle company won points by pushing back on a customer's Facebook rant. The customer's all-caps post made Liberty Bottleworks sound unresponsive, but Ryan Clark tells a different story.

Addressing the customers' "numerous voicemails and emails," Clark's response skillfully quotes one of her messages: "It is the holidays. You should be working." (Correct punctuation added!) Clark's post defends his employees: "Family first, product second."

Since this exchange was posted on Reddit, Liberty Bottleworks wrote a Facebook message that the company has received record call volumes. Social media hopefuls correlate Clark's reaction and praise him for NOT following conventional wisdom of appeasing customers online.

Image source.

Discussion Starters:

• Assess the customer's post. What, if any, part of her message could be justified?
• Also assess Clark's Facebook response: what works well, and what could be improved?
• Help Clark improve his business writing skills. Rewrite his message with clearer organization and proper punctuation.