holy shit i noticed that… every customer service agent just assumes you’re lying and trying to scam them; there’s no benefit of the doubt… prove it or shut up and stop wasting company time
what ever happened to having a reputation for good customer service being a positive business attribute in and of itself?
That seems specific to the west, in Japan and Korea, I had separate incidents where the subway ate my ticket or money and the guy asks how much it was, opens tge machine, and grabs that ticket/bill, and gives it to me, doesn’t check a camera or the machines history or anything.
It’s less the person and more the company policy. I’ve total sympathy for the person on the phone/behind the counter who’s probably had a long and thankless day; I’m not rude or aggressive to people.
It annoys me no end that often, offers and services are gated behind “new subscriber” conditions - which is basically a tax on being conflict-adverse. You have to go through a cancellation process to get someone who can “look to see if there’s anything they can do” and get the thing that’s plainly available.
But I’ll joke about it on the phone to whoever I’m talking to - the last time this happened (changing mobile phone contract) the chap and I were laughing about “come the revolution” at the end of the call.
Previously I’ve had someone on the phone claim that water being three feet higher at one end of a drain than the other wasn’t due to a blockage; some people will “go the extra mile” for their employer. I think I got as far as “if your company’s position is that basic fluid statics is wrong I’d be happy to take it to court, but you don’t have a leg to stand on, so it’ll be cheaper for everyone involved to just send the drain guy out,” which is about as annoyed as I get.
There’s no reason for someone in a phone zombie role to actually give a shit one way or another, but some kind of human connection helps. Even a sarcastic response can be delivered in a disarming way - attack the blatantly stupid kafkaesque nonsense, not the poor schmuck who’s not paid to care.
holy shit i noticed that… every customer service agent just assumes you’re lying and trying to scam them; there’s no benefit of the doubt… prove it or shut up and stop wasting company time
what ever happened to having a reputation for good customer service being a positive business attribute in and of itself?
That seems specific to the west, in Japan and Korea, I had separate incidents where the subway ate my ticket or money and the guy asks how much it was, opens tge machine, and grabs that ticket/bill, and gives it to me, doesn’t check a camera or the machines history or anything.
I think by-and-large it’s easier to get a positive response from someone face-to-face than over the phone, but on the whole people are pretty nice.
That doesn’t make line go up. The underpaid worker also doesn’t give a fuck.
It’s less the person and more the company policy. I’ve total sympathy for the person on the phone/behind the counter who’s probably had a long and thankless day; I’m not rude or aggressive to people.
It annoys me no end that often, offers and services are gated behind “new subscriber” conditions - which is basically a tax on being conflict-adverse. You have to go through a cancellation process to get someone who can “look to see if there’s anything they can do” and get the thing that’s plainly available.
But I’ll joke about it on the phone to whoever I’m talking to - the last time this happened (changing mobile phone contract) the chap and I were laughing about “come the revolution” at the end of the call.
Previously I’ve had someone on the phone claim that water being three feet higher at one end of a drain than the other wasn’t due to a blockage; some people will “go the extra mile” for their employer. I think I got as far as “if your company’s position is that basic fluid statics is wrong I’d be happy to take it to court, but you don’t have a leg to stand on, so it’ll be cheaper for everyone involved to just send the drain guy out,” which is about as annoyed as I get.
There’s no reason for someone in a phone zombie role to actually give a shit one way or another, but some kind of human connection helps. Even a sarcastic response can be delivered in a disarming way - attack the blatantly stupid kafkaesque nonsense, not the poor schmuck who’s not paid to care.