subjective satisfaction surveys

I'm not sure of the purpose or validity of satisfaction surveys. Surely, like everything, satisfaction is in the eye of the beholder? Far from being proof of any external value, all that is being tested is what sort of satisfaction levels the people you have asked are willing to believe in.

So for example say I go to an NHS appointment with a 30 minute delay. Afterwards I might fill in a survey as to how satisfied I am. Being me, the chances are I would be very satisfied - my attitude towards the NHS is one of profound gratitude that I am able to access a service that is free at the point of use, where well qualified, conscientious people care about my health and do their utmost to help me. Holding the view as I do, that everyone is doing the best that they can, I'm likely to trust that the situation is as good as it can be and I hopefully will have enjoyed my extra time there with opportunities to chat to others or read a book or some other such delight. Of course it's completely possible that I might have been struggling that day, maybe with an impossible deadline, or with overwhelming fears about the reason I was there, or maybe the rain had put me in a less generous mood - and so I might feel less satisfied, but that wouldn't be the fault of those providing the service, it would only reflect on my attitude.

The person next to me might have the same delay and see the same person for treatment, but they might have a different expectation and have a fraught encounter instead. They might feel they don't have half an hour to spare in their jam packed day. I'm aware we all have differing levels of "entitlement" as to how we should be treated - they might think a 30 minute delay is unacceptable and give a very low rating - but the service was actually very similar to mine yet the satisfaction is markedly different due to differing expectations.

For me it all comes back to how we can't control what is going on around us, how heavy the traffic is, how delayed an appointment is, how rainy the weather is, how grumpy the person next to us is. Yet we can very much influence our response to it.
So how satisfied are you right now?
I have to say despite some challenges, I am of course very satisfied indeed :D