I once read a book by a champion car salesman who asserted each customer influences 200 other people, if you ‘do’ him or her bad or good. Don’t know how true that is, but there’s well over 500 people in my Outlook contacts file, so I could easily find 200 to praise or complain to if I were motivated enough. A friend of mine is famous for sending out more then 500 Christmas cards, so perhaps the 200 per average person my not be too much hyperbole.

I’m no lawyer but in general, being personally sorry is not an actionable legal issue. In fact in Japan, it’s an art form. When I worked there for the US government, the first thing we were formally taught by our legal staff regarding any interaction that had gone sour … including road accidents … was to express personal sorrow at the very first chance. Never, ever admit liability, but always come forth directly with “I am very sorry this occurred”.

As you mentioned, the number one thing a majority of folks with a complaint really want is simply as validation of their experience. My own theory is that even though sanity would tell us otherwise, when something embarrassing or annoying happens, there’s a little voice inside us that say’s Those so-and-so’s are laughing at you”. A simple apology and assurance that’s not at all the case goes a long way to restoring the complainer to mental balance.