Yes, that’s me — steaming over the leaks from my brand-new roof installed by a name-brand, big-box home improvement center.

Repeated telephone calls to the sales person, the sales manager, the customer service manager, the regional manager, and the divisional manager all resulted in a total lack of response. For. Five. Months.

So, what did I do? I went to Twitter and started asking @BigBoxCares why my roof was leaking not in one place — but several.  And, with the Tupperware bowls littering my house to catch the inches of water flowing from the newly installed roof, a couple of Twitpics to share my annoyance. 

Their tweeted response after my five moderately snarky tweets? “Please send an email to the @BigBoxCares customer service team with the name of the store that you purchased the roof, the installation date, and a complete history of the entire communication process. Oh, and by the way, please stop tweeting about your customer service concern because, you know, we care.” 

Mind you, this comes from the internet marketing perspective.  So much for all those posts about the 10 Best Ways to Use Social Media to Take Over the World.  But the aspect of Hopkins’ post, and travails, that was most disturbing wasn’t that another American business that spends a small fortune telling you how much they love you in television commercials ends up not giving a crap about delivering on its (paid-for) promise.  Rather, it’s what this failure has done to our expectations. 

What’s astounding is that less than half of twitter users under the age of 35 expect their complaints to be read.  They expect to be ignored, and expectation leads to acceptance.  When the outcome matches expectations, they aren’t angry or unhappy. They’re validated.

Hopkins goes on to talk about how smart companies can use this as a marketing opportunity, and perhaps this is one of the few times I agree.  But this misses a critical aspect of the Maritz poll.  Older users expect that their complaints will be read.  I venture to say that we expect that they will not only be read, but addressed.  And by addressed, I mean fixed.

Older twitter users, as I suspect is even more true of older consumers in general, expect companies to honor their obligations.  When we buy something, we expect to get what we paid for.  When we don’t, we do something about it.  Just as companies don’t deliver products if we only pay a portion of the purchase price, we don’t accept companies to deliver a portion of what we paid for and shrug the rest off.

Yet, this poll suggests that younger people expect to get screwed, and are resigned to it.  They expect to be ignored, to be treated like dirt, and aren’t sufficiently incensed to demand otherwise.  This isn’t good.

As anyone following me on twitter is already well aware, my reaction has exceeded five snarky twits.  It’s takes almost no time at all to throw out a dozen well-placed twits a day to let my good pals at KitchenAid know I’m still here.  No doubt I’m a troll to them, as they ignore my twits, having long since stopped responding even to offer the ubiquitous apologies for the inconvenience.

This isn’t inconvenience. This is contract.  I pay, they deliver. There’s nothing ephemeral about it, though to the children who comprise the social media team at KitchenAid, I’m just another disgruntled curmudgeon for whom fulfillment of an obligation is beyond their expectation.  This is the flip side of millennials as consumers expecting to be screwed, that in their capacity as representatives of manufacturers and retailers, they feel that they’ve sufficiently “satisfied” their customer’s expectations by delivering a fraction of what was purchased.

I mean, like, you know, seriously, they got, like, 80% of what they were supposed to get, and, like, you know, isn’t the, like, you know, good enough?

For me? No.  Not even close.  When I pay 100% of your purchase price, I expect 100% of your product in return. I expect you to fulfill your obligations in their entirety. I expect you to produce a product that works.  Completely. Perfectly.  Properly.  And no, I do not see this as an unrealistic expectation.

The problem is that young people don’t see it the same way, and will accept whatever crumbs they’re given.  They may not like it, but they don’t expect more.  They may feel unhappy, but they won’t take action against it.  At least not enough of the young people, according to this poll.

As expectations drift downward, and with it the demands you place on those from whom you purchase things to deliver what you’ve paid for, you will ultimately have your expectations fulfilled.  And sadly, my expectations will not be fulfilled.

Ironically, marketing philosopher  Seth Godin posted today about this very problem.

Low expectations are often a self-fulfilling prophecy. We insulate ourselves from failure, don’t try as hard, brace for the worst and often get it.

Your call, kids. Do you really want to live in a world where your low expectations are met?  Do you really want to pay what others demand and receive what they deign to give you?  If not, get off the couch and let them know you refuse to take it. 

Whether it’s twitter, or Facebook, or a blog, make a stink.  Become an annoyance.  If nothing else, let others know what you went through, and how they failed to deliver.  If you shrug it off because you expect to be screwed, your expectations will be fulfilled.