Sums me up quite well

I know I'm a big complainer
But I don't want to be a container
A receptacle bitter
Full of anger and litter
I'd rather be real than a feigner

In yesterday's newspaper there was an article about how as a nation, Canada is the fourth most complainingest country in the world. That's before the US, before France, and behind only Sweden (#1), the UK (#2) and Australia (#3).

And as I was laughing about this, I realized, "Huh. This sums me up quite nicely." At least I know I'm not alone. There's a whole country of us.

So this study was based on per capita complaints against companies and organizations. And my first reaction was, well, good thing, because then I guess it doesn't include people like me...and then I realized I had recently lodged complaints with Bell Canada and Tim Hortons and TD Canada Trust, all within the last 12 months.

Huh.

So I AM a big complainer. But at least I know someone who complains more than me (ahem...see Chris Joe's blog for reference). But you know, upon further reflection on the matter I got to thinking that maybe complaining is really not such a bad thing. Yes, yes, I'm sure it does get annoying to some when I complain about everything from school to school to school to school to that idiot stranger on the street who calls me "Blue Hat" to school, but at the same time, it often makes for a large amount of amusement. Amusement and good stories at the price of some annoyance? Yeah, worth it. Besides, face it, it's the sharing of complaints that builds a community. Why are engscis, for instance, so close knit? Complaints. Why do we all read Chris Joe's blog? Complaints. Why do we love to hate The Man of big corporation? Complaints.

We expect a certain something, a certain level of quality or what-not, and if we don't get it, well, at least we can find solace in our communal complaining.

Or at least, we can whine about it on a blog and hope that someone reads it.