Does Reading CS Change You?

[MTNLaurelPoacher]

Do you find that reading Customers Suck changes the way you deal with people who are helping you?

Example:

My debit card dissapeared and I could not place where I had put it. I searched the house and called my bank and put a temporary hold on it till I could locate it.

I located the card several hours later. I called the bank back to get the hold take off. The call center dude turned me over to fraud investigations and placed me on perma hold. Later he confrence called into fraud investigations and learned that he could have take the hold off my account and it happened all the time. It would have only been a fraud case if someone had used my card in the time I had the hold on. He apologised to me profusely, and I said no.. no problem. No harm. The gentleman who was helping me admitted feeling foolish. I said that I had worked telephone call centers and customer service in the past and it was A- OK. Thanked him for the help, and wished him good day.


The purpose of my story is, in the past I would have been ticked that the customer service guy didn't understand how to remove the hold, and waisted 30 cell phone minutes finding it out. But after reading CS, well I don't want to be one. Therefore I treated him with kindness and respect and delt with any frustrations I had when we were off the phone.

This is not the 1st time I have gone out of my way to be a decent customer during hard times, yet not too sweet, because well thats annoying, and you stand a chance of getting screwed.

So.... how has Customer Suck changed you?

[sms001]

So.... how has Customer Suck changed you?

I like to think that I was pretty polite and understanding to begin with, but the way CS has changed me is that I make a lot more effort to separate the actions of employees from corporate policies. I try to realize that the person is NOT doing this heinously stupid thing just to irritate me, they've been told to.
Sometimes it may even go too far. Obviously there ARE bad employees, or even good ones who are having a crappy day, and if I gave them a little more grief I might get the correct outcome but I don't.

Besides expanding my "patience zone" a little, CS has encouraged me to humanize my interactions with employees more. For instance, the young man who scanned my groceries yesterday is going into the Air Force next week. He's obviously very proud of that, but I bet he didn't get too many opportunities to let it out in today's shopping climate. I find myself giving more positive verbal messages as well.

Finally, of course, is the cathartic effect, which works for both sides of the equation. I've let off steam myself and vicariously through other member's writings, AND when I have a "Sighting" I'm a little less inclined to get wound up - I just think, "Oh, that's just like what happened to ten people in Soandso's thread last week...there ARE a lot of those kinds of idiots out there!"




Yes. All hail hypnotoa . . .Zzzzzzzz......................................

[jedimaster91]

While I'm not always a patient person, I have usually given employees the benefit of the doubt if things are running slowly or there was some kind of mix-up. Yes, I'm annoyed at how slowly this line is moving, but it's not the employees' fault and I don't take it out on them. I just try to finish my business quickly so I'm not taking up more of their time than I need to.

We went to the local Tony Roma's for lunch, and when the food came out, I got handed a plate of food I didn't order. From reading this board, I know what the "normal" response would have been: get all huffy, demand my meal comped, and generally make the staff hate me and possibly end up in a CSer's story. But, it wasn't a huge deal. I politely mentioned that this wasn't what I ordered. I was already pretty stuffed with a salad and yummy onion logs, so I wasn't too upset. I figured it was a kitchen mix-up and I had gotten someone else's shrimp. The waitress and manager were extremely apologetic, almost to the point I was getting embarassed. The mistake was easily fixed, and the manager even gave us a coupon for a free appetizer, which I felt was unnecessary. But hey, who am I to pass up free food?

[Lyra]

I've found myself actively thinking to myself "Be polite, say please, say thank you, smile."

I'd like to think I've always been generally polite to CS folks, and working in the industry definitely made me a better customer, but lurking around this site has definitely made me more consious of my attitude.

I've also stopped saying "I know it's not your fault, but..." (which was usually followed by me being a snarky bitch) when I do have a problem. I may still be grumpy, but I try to tone it back a bit, and not take it out on the person on the phone/standing in front of me.

[Sparky]

You know that awkward moment when you realize that you've managed to bring the ONE item that has no price on it? The clerk is looking it up, or waiting for someone else to look it up. I'm always embarassed because it seems I always grab the one with no price tag. And waiting is boring.

I used to think I was being all clever and entertaining by saying "Does this mean it's free?"

I know better now.

[Evil Queen]

A little bit. I'm a bit nicer to people in retail (since, still, I have not worked a retail job to date).

I'm more patient when I'm put on hold or waiting for a clerk or phone CSR to look something up.

[Arm]

I suppose it's helped me to learn more about folks I encounter doing retail or wait-staff type jobs. I don't think I'm any nicer to them (not that I'm mean to them; I just don't like people-in-general as much as people-in-specific), but now I know *why* they rub me the wrong way sometimes.

[marasbaras]

Not at all for me ... I'm more patient because I'm older. That's about it.

I can usually tell the difference between a sucky employee and sucky corporate policy. In both cases, I let their manager have it. I start out polite ... but, very quickly get to stern and annoyed.

That said, I only escalate things when I feel I'm getting screwed. Which, thankfully, hasn't happened in a long while.

[rerant]

The majority of my working life has been spent in retail so I've always had a certain amount of empathy towards the people working at the places I'm shopping and do my best to be as nice to them as possible.

In terms of how CS has changed how I deal with people it has given me more ammo for standing up for myself. Not in the sense of treating customers poorly, but making it so they don't walk all over me.
Before I would just stand there and take it but now I'm much more assertive.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Working in retail and dealing with SCs myself makes me less prone to blame the cashiers/workers wherever I go, and more apt to blame the people in line, for having a difficult order to ring up (stop haggling over the prices, stop checking the price on EVERY item, and conferring with every single person in your party).

If I'm in line now, and I see somebody say "Hold on, let me see if I got the right kind," and then pull out her cell phone, I start huffing and looking for short lines elsewhere so I can rush over to get out sooner.

[powerboy]

Yes it has. Used too, I would be a little SC'ish - if something bothered me. But now, I am more understanding.

[draftermatt]

I'm more paitent now.

[iradney]

I've always been nice to people that help me with things, or sell me things, but now I'm a little more understanding vis a vis corporate policies. Yelling at the sales person will not get us anywhere, since I doubt they drew up the policy or have the power to change it.

[Peppergirl]

I've been working customer service for a long time and have always been reasonably patient with CS personnel, but these boards have made me even more so.

I often find that I go overboard with being friendly and patient and guess what? It almost ALWAYS pays off in the form of getting what I'm asking for. I rarely, if ever, encounter a rude CS person, and I like to think that my attitude is a big reason for that.

I know that sucky employees are everywhere, but by the law of averages, if you find yourself dealing with sucky employees ALL THE TIME, you may need to examine your attitude.

[Foxglove8778]

Made me not want to work with the public again. At all. Ever.
and yet I start a new retail job tomorrow. heh. I like buying groceries.