I think it's balanced to say it when something is wrong, inefficient and aggravating, and to say it when something is going right, efficiently and aiding a pleasant atmosphere.
About the quote from Ziglar, "I would rather spend an hour with a person who is insincerely positive than spend a minute with someone who is sincerely negative".......
.....Well, he was a salesman. For him in his capacity of running an automotive business and traveling motivational speaker, I'd imagine he would have wanted his salespeople to speak only positive things about the product....for an hour, if that's what it takes to get the customer to sign on the dotted line.
But.....the consumer/shopper/buyer expects to be able to say the truth--and have this truth acknowledged--about the product they bought if it turns out NOT to be what the "insincerely positive" salesperson told them for an hour.
As an example, when we go out to a restaurant and are looking at the menu and asking about certain choices, I appreciate it when the server leans in and says very quietly, "That choice has not been good lately....several people have sent that back tonight.....and I think you'd be better off ordering this other dish you asked about....it's one of my favorite dishes and I always order that".
I appreciate that "minute of sincerely negative" advice....that also came with an honestly positive piece we could decide with.
About the people who find something to gripe about in every situation, most of those I've known/worked for/lived with are stuck in a rut and will not take a risk to try to get out of that rut.
Sometimes it's the stress of running a business and employing people, or sometimes it's a spouse who has the other spouse hen-pecked and the "victim" will not stand up to the other one.
An example of that would be the men here renting/visiting who say, "I'd get a place here in a heartbeat, but my wife will not leave the (grown, married) kids and grandkids." When I suggest "spend 6 months here and 6 months there", the answer usually is "my wife can't stand to be away from them for that long".
I can see how people get negative in a relationship like that, where one won't give in even a little bit. There has to be give and take, in balanced amounts.
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