Complaining

Complaining is a language function.

Lexical chunks for this are:

• "I'd like to complain about [NP]"
• "I'd like to make a complaint about [NP]".
• "I'd like to speak to the manager". Stronger: "I demand to speak to the manager!"

Effective complaining requires much more than just language. You need to talk to the right person, give the right information and demand a solution that is satisfying.

This naturally leads to the flipside function of handling complaints and apologising - particularly for professionals involved in service industries.