So I'm currently working at a customer service call centre. It's ok, it pays well and the hours are decent so I don't mind. But sometimes, the customers piss me right the fuck off. They'll complain out of their asses, 90% of the time they're wrong and it's always, always, always about money, sometimes about miniscule amounts (Less than 20 cents US in some cases) Today I have been a prick. Not in tonality or anything, just following my company's rigid guidelines which means "Give as little as possible". I'll laugh to myself with malicious glee whenever they get agitated, and let them carry on with their tirades for up to 5 minutes while surfing these forums and blatantly ignoring their rants. Of course, the title of this thread is incorrect. Every now and then - quite often, in fact - the customer is super cool and I'll do everything in my power to make them happy as a pig in shit, even violating the company guidelines, giving them major discounts. Just not today. What can you learn from this? Well, if you ever call customer service remember that people are manning the phones. Keep a civil tone, try to relate on a human level, try to be cheerful (even if the company has bent you over and penetrated over and over again), be courteous and respectful. Ask for opportunities and things, never demand anything. "I demand" instigates an immediate "You're an asshole and I'm giving you as little as possible" reaction. Don't get angry, enlist empathy. If you're an asshole, the person you talk to will usually become an asshole right back, even if they volounteer for the homeless shelter on the weekends and keep an "adopted child" in Africa.
Man I feal you here! I used to work costumer service and I did door-to-door sales! Both jobs involve alot of SHIT from "customers." Therefore people who I am always nice to: 1.customer service people i talk to 2. waiters/waitresses (i mean cmon they are making your food!)
I know what you mean, I work for the student accounting office and they are nastiest people on earth. It's amazing how the kids that complain the most are the kids that can't pay their bills. And the parents are the worst, they feel that since they're older, they can talk to you anyway they can. But you can't entirely blame them, because their retarded kids apparently do not know how to go online and print out their bills and get the information that they need.
these are rules i try to live by, and it almost always works out to my advantage. when you are on the phone with someone who is controlling how much you will spend on something, it's always smart to be courteous.
ditto, man, seriously, I've worked customer service, tech support and retail, and I've expanded my list to being cool with polite customer service reps. cool waiters and waitresses, polite (but not underfoot) retail people. I've had customer service cop an obvious attitude within 15 seconds of getting on the phone, and I just request the next step up the food chain in that case...but retail people, like bookstores or clothes stores...they catch bullshit all day long, so if they're not complete assholes, I'm cool with them, but if they're rude, I'll gladly pull 300-500$ worth of stock, walk to the counter with it, ask them to bring out the manager, and explain very patiently that this was what I was going to purchase, and what their clerk's rudeness cost the company. and yes, if you're a completely rude asshole to me, I'll get you fired for that bs, but if you're cool and try, I'll ask for the manager for a different reason (after the purchase) and let them know just how good an employee they've got. Consumer response on things like that can really make you or break you in retail.
