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I love a little impromptu Life lesson.

Last week I posted a one minute-long video on TikTok. It was a simple collage of three short clips I had filmed the week before, when me and three co-workers attended a new entertainment at Montréal’s casino.

In collaboration with Moment Factory, Loto Québec has created an interactive experience, and the employees were invited to try it for free before the grand opening. In shorts, classic arcade games are projected on the floor, and instead of using a joystick or a remote control, your body controls the game.

We had fun, I took a couple of pictures and recorded a few short videos, and we rode back home.

End of that.

Last week, while playing with a new video editor, I’ve put some of the clips together, and posted the result on my TikTok account. I went about my business, and forgot about it.

My highest views-count at that time was around a thousand, and I am guessing that was just luck, because in average, I am impressed when one of my videos hits 75.

This morning, when I checked my account, the post had reached over 3,000 views!!

Say whut????

There were also two comments. Which I wouldn’t describe as most constructive, ever.

The first one simply stated ”Loto Québec… You f*ckin’ crooks!” Obviously, the author had personal issues with our company.

The second was just slightly longer: ”Are you f*ckin’ kidding me?? How much do you think this cost us??” This guy’s concern about public money (Loto Québec is a governmental institution) seemed legit, but I didn’t feel like the best person to ask this question to. And I didn’t enjoy the agressive tone, either.

I felt puzzled. I don’t like censorship, and didn’t feel comfortable just deleting said comments, just because I didn’t like them. On the other hand, I didn’t wan’t to reply in a sarcastic way, therefore possibly causing some kind of escalading effect. I really thought that was exactly what these two gentlemen were waiting for. It didn’t feel wise to try to have a courteous conversation either, having doubts that that would even be possible.

The only choice left was to leave them there, and not offer any kind of response. I really didn’t like that.

At that point, I really-really-really-really wanted to react, if only to have the last word. But I didn’t want to mirror their bitter ways, and I certainly didn’t want to lower myself to their trolling level. Most of all, I wanted to feel good after getting back at them.

And here’s what I came up with.

Hello!

Thank you for taking a few seconds of your precious time to leave me a comment. It seems obvious that you didn’t enjoy the content of my video, and I am sincerely sorry for that. Unfortunately, I don’t have any time to loose debating about the investments involved in the launch of this new entertainment experience. Anyway, your opinion on the subject already seems clear and assumed. Since I don’t consider your intervention to be constructive, I will simply delete it, and then block you from my profile. I hope this will save you from seeing any other of my account’s unpleasant videos. I wish you a most lovely day, and hope you’ll be luckier as you continue surfing around TikTok! 

I sent this as a private message, blocked the user, and deleted his comment! Good riddance!

Sadly, the other gent had a private account, and I wasn’t able to kindly make him aware of the reason he received the same treatment. Too bad, I had a nice note for him too!

The lesson here, is that you never have to put up with that kind of angry, ”I can do/say whatever I want!” people. But if you take your time, and think about it, you can always make sure to get back at them in a kind and classy way.

What courtesy they lack, you can throw back at their face…

And let’s bet that Mr Cranky didn’t particularly enjoy my polite ways! Hah!

In the meanwhile, I am now up to 5,808 views, and I’ve written my first ”real” post in about three months of time.

Win-win-win!

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P.S. If you are curious, and would like to see the video mentionned in this post, click here.