American humourist Josh Billings is credited with coining the metaphor that the squeakiest wheel gets the grease. Under his pen-name, Henry Wheeler Shaw, he wrote a poem in 1870 that popularized the metaphor.
“I hate to be a kicker; I always long for peace. But the wheel that squeaks the loudest; Is the one that gets the grease.”
Similarly, the Japanese have a proverb that says, “The stake that sticks up gets hammered down.” The Spanish have another maxim, “The nail that stands out gets hammered down.”
The squeakiest wheel gets the grease. Who complains loudest is the one who is dealt with. I think we’ve become a nation of complainers. Complaining is how things get done now.
A group dislikes something, an item, a policy, or the lack of action – others tend to bend over backwards to fix it. If you don’t like something: yell about it; write an email; or better still – post something to social media about it – the more passive-aggressive the better. If a person/business/group is worried about negative views or publicity, then that issue will be addressed. Don’t like the first solution, complain again.
“This coffee is too cold,” is easily followed up with “This new coffee is too hot.” Paging Goldilocks anyone?
For the average person, we complain about prices a lot – with little effect; and about the quality of things we buy. The two do not go hand-in-hand anymore. Often there are complaints about what teams our kids are on or how programs are run. Many complaints, many issues must be dealt with to get everyone to the point of not complaining. Problems are not necessarily fixed, just no one is complaining – for now.
Municipalities are more susceptible to complaints to varying degrees. Complain about your neighbours flooding the ditch at 2 a.m. to run a mud bog race between lawn tractors, and it takes a while to get action. Complain about trees being cut down – immediate reaction, outcry, and offence. It may be that the complaints are geography-based, or property value-based – maybe.
The higher up the political food chain you go, the less attention is given to complaining – unless it is politically expedient. Take the provincial government and its land deals with developers in the Toronto area. There was an eventual 180 degree turn – because of political expedience. The Teflon coating of political scandal began to wear.
Often complaints are made to throw people off the scent of other issues. High budget spending in Ontario this year is offset by complaints that the federal levels are not doing their part.
I think the only place really where complaining hasn’t set in as much to effect things is at the federal government level. Look around at our political strife. A federal budget is released. Like all budgets, there are good and bad ideas in it. Good and bad ideas are both colour-blind, all political parties are equally capable of both types. Instead of proposing changes to make the budget even better, complaints from all sides. Complaints about the complaints. You can hear lots of squeaky wheels chatter. No grease can be found.
Political opposition figures have lots of complaints about what the government is or is not doing – while offering no alternatives of their own.
The risk of all the complaints, other than businesses tripping over themselves to avoid bad online reviews, groups diffusing poor people dynamics, or politicians looking to get re-elected in one way or another, is that we become reactionary. Plans go out the window because this fire or that fire has to be put out. A lot of this reactionary business boils down to the fact that the ones complaining are not offering any solutions of their own.
Being the squeaky wheel means being the loudest and often most annoying. Only reacting to those issues complained about – trying to please everyone – undermines any chance of long term planning and the viability of that entity.
Complaining does indeed make the world go ‘round. What shall I complain about next?
This column was originally published in the April 24, 2024 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader.