How did we do? We value your opinion. Your feedback helps us to improve. Rate your experience with us. Today, these customer service slogans are ubiquitous. When we purchase something, either online or in person, we are invariably met with a request to review the product online. Companies like Trustpilot Group PLC — an international entity founded in Denmark — are fairly widely respected, and their reviews help to alert us to the quality, or otherwise, of different products. Many of us use these review platforms, and others like them, to shop more reliably.
Likewise, shops and restaurants will ask us to rate the level of service provided by a particular team member. Requests for feedback now extend beyond goods and services to driving, so on the back of a vehicle we might see: How’s my driving?or Driving carefully?
All around us, daily, we are being asked for feedback. This is very helpful in terms of guiding us when we want to purchase something or leave a comment, but the sheer volume of requests can sometimes feel deafening.
Is this a good way of building community? Community is really built on the principle of reciprocity, so if you supply a service of some kind, or sell a product, an acknowledgement completes the virtuous circle. Likewise, all our personal, our national and international relationships are based on this same principle. Of course, acknowledgements do not have to be written ones. In the UK we are marked out for our proclivity to say sorry and thank you — perhaps up to 50 times a day! There is that lovely quality of courtesy, which is by no means confined to the UK. Other gestures too, like a smile or laugh, go a long way. Most importantly, reciprocity does not imply a careful ‘measuring out’ to someone based on what we received – generosity calls for us to give abundantly but within our means. Discrimination and timing can be important too – to give an ill thought out gift at the wrong time, can be detrimental to the recipient.
The principle of reciprocity underpins our society. It is sometimes tacit, but invariably it is an expressed principle. Without it, society would fail because it is a recognition of our mutual interdependence. The term No man is an island — coined by John Donne in the 17th century — is perhaps a little tired today, but it is nonetheless true. The internet itself seems to be a good metaphor for our one world, our close relationships and connectivity. One piece of information, one conversation – generating another and then another, ad infinitum.
Predictably, as it is of human origin, AI does the same thing. It not only provides us with factual information, but at the end of a request it generally gives us a series of choices as to whether we would like to know more about a particular subject. Without boundaries, we would no doubt go on forever. AI is a subject all of its own, but we might question ourselves about it in terms of reciprocity and forming relationships. Already, for the lonely and isolated, it is being adopted as a friend, or even a counsellor. Is it stopping us from reaching out to other human beings?
As to the principle of reciprocity, this is a vast subject with many beautiful nuances. If, in our lives, we can be fully present to each person and situation, we can expand the ways in which we make those mutual exchanges. This includes that wonderful quality of courtesy — how we can extend it? Perhaps we can recall how it makes us feel when someone is courteous towards us and extend that same thing to others. Courtesy breathes acknowledgement, consideration and recognition.
As to the plethora of customer service slogans, this seems to show that society as a whole is becoming more sensitive to interactions, to exchanges of goods and services — ultimately, to the principle of reciprocity which ensures a healthy give and take.
The tremendous growth of ‘feedback’, in a multiplicity of forms, is a comparatively recent development. Invariably, new developments in society emerge in a raw form and move towards an extreme, but eventually they come into balance. This seems to explain the plethora and diversity of requests. We can but choose which ones we respond to – overall it is a positive development and builds a sense of community and connectivity.
Each year the Fintry Trust leads a Summer School on a specific topic. This helps to build community and fosters genuine exchange. This year the theme is ‘The Art of Awakening’.
The event will take place 23rd to 26th July. Come and experience for yourself the transformative qualities of Integral Art. There are experienced guides and practitioners and immersive workshops, like the Mandala Workshop led by Daniel Bowler.
For more information and to register for Summer School 2026
