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Oh Alaska. Why are you part of the United States again? Oh right. You were cheap to buy. Right next to the former Soviet Union. Expanded the US territory by a large percent. This is getting somewhere, I promise.
When our noble forefathers purchased Alaska they weren't thinking very clearly. Oh sure, it's beautiful country with a fascinating history and culture. But what about the little details that get us by? What about shipping zones, freight costs, and long distance telephone bills? Did you know that UPS doesn't do expedited shipping to Alaska? It's just too far! There's no way to get it there! Even if you were willing to pay the $100+ fee for expedited shipping to Alaska it is physically impossible to get it there. This is something I just learned actually. Funny story.
Last week, 9/26 this woman called from a church in Alaska. I spoke to her over the phone, she wanted her stuff by this weekend, 10/5 at the latest. Ok, not a problem, I just have to make sure it ships out that day. The only thing was that she wanted chocolate bars, which didn't even arrive in our warehouse until the first of October. Here is where I mention 3 day expedited shipping for such and such amount of money. She agrees, all is well, or so I thought.
Yesterday, around 4pm (aka, an hour before we leave) one of my coworkers brought up the chocolate invoice and said "Hey, so warehouse just told me UPS doesn't do 3 day shipping to Alaska. I changed the order and it will be there on monday." "Ok," I reply, thinking, Damn, that's really annoying, but we did what we could and she'll just have to deal.
Oh boy. Big mistake. This woman did not want to deal. She wanted her products now. Here is a clip from our conversation:
Me: I'm really sorry, but it looks like UPS doesn't do 3 day shipping to Alaska. The soonest they can have it there is on monday.
SC: Oh no. No no no. The woman I spoke to when I placed the order (aka, me, though I sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that, call me a coward if you will!) told me it would be here this weekend. I need to have it this weekend otherwise you can cancel the order.
Me: Ok, let me see what-
SC: You know, I kept telling her that you people normally send our stuff through Priority Mail, we NEVER get UPS, if she had only listened to me this never would have happened!
Me:
(trouble! now I KNOW she's lying, I have never heard of anything from our warehouse being shipped priority mail, and I've worked here for a year! Unfortunately I can't call her on it, because it wasn't me who spoke to her before! damnit!) I'm sorry, I have never heard of any of our products being shipped priority mail, and there is nothing in your account information that suggests this.
SC: proceeds to rant, yell, and abuse for the next ten minutes
Me: (after trying to get 400 apologies in edgewise) I'm going to have to talk to the warehouse and see if there is anything we can do. I will have to call you back. Have a good one.
SC: yeah
*click*
Manager came over to see what's up
MGR: Hey, that sounded like a rough one, is everything ok?
Me: (Tries to explain and starts to tear up) ...and she was just so mean!
MGR: Ok, talk to K the warehouse and see what we can do. Don't worry, I would have done the same thing, this would have happened to anyone who answered that call.
So I go down to talk to K, who says he will have to talk to J and get back to me. At 5:30 I haven't heard from him, so I ask Manager if I should wait to call her back till I know what's going on with her order, or if I should call now and tell her I still dont know anything. Not surprisingly, he told me to wait. Time to go home.
Flash forward to this morning!
Manager answers the phone. It's the woman from Alaska, demanding to know what's going on, why didn't we call, why didn't we ship it priority mail etc etc. He's upset, I'm upset. After he gets off the phone he told me I should have called last night, next time be sure to call, etc. I just nod, but inside I am thinking WTF, you told me to wait!! But he's upset. He goes down to the warehouse to see what's going on. He comes back and his eyes are all red, like he's been crying. He asks if I can drive to the post office and mail it out that way if it comes to it. Of course I can. It was my fault after all.
But this b*tch of a woman has now made TWO of us cry! What the hell?? I'm not even entirely sure why! Are we so used to dealing with nice customers who say "God bless you!" when we get off the phone that we can't handle a raging one? Or is it that we actually believe in the mission of our company and really want to do our jobs well that we feel like we've failed if we get one customer who isn't happy? It may seem easy to say that if she's that disappointed she doesn't have to order with us again, but I HATE losing customers. That's one less person supporting Fair Trade in the world.
I don't know. It's very frustrating, that's all I can say. I wish I could go home.
When our noble forefathers purchased Alaska they weren't thinking very clearly. Oh sure, it's beautiful country with a fascinating history and culture. But what about the little details that get us by? What about shipping zones, freight costs, and long distance telephone bills? Did you know that UPS doesn't do expedited shipping to Alaska? It's just too far! There's no way to get it there! Even if you were willing to pay the $100+ fee for expedited shipping to Alaska it is physically impossible to get it there. This is something I just learned actually. Funny story.
Last week, 9/26 this woman called from a church in Alaska. I spoke to her over the phone, she wanted her stuff by this weekend, 10/5 at the latest. Ok, not a problem, I just have to make sure it ships out that day. The only thing was that she wanted chocolate bars, which didn't even arrive in our warehouse until the first of October. Here is where I mention 3 day expedited shipping for such and such amount of money. She agrees, all is well, or so I thought.
Yesterday, around 4pm (aka, an hour before we leave) one of my coworkers brought up the chocolate invoice and said "Hey, so warehouse just told me UPS doesn't do 3 day shipping to Alaska. I changed the order and it will be there on monday." "Ok," I reply, thinking, Damn, that's really annoying, but we did what we could and she'll just have to deal.
Oh boy. Big mistake. This woman did not want to deal. She wanted her products now. Here is a clip from our conversation:
Me: I'm really sorry, but it looks like UPS doesn't do 3 day shipping to Alaska. The soonest they can have it there is on monday.
SC: Oh no. No no no. The woman I spoke to when I placed the order (aka, me, though I sure as hell wasn't going to tell her that, call me a coward if you will!) told me it would be here this weekend. I need to have it this weekend otherwise you can cancel the order.
Me: Ok, let me see what-
SC: You know, I kept telling her that you people normally send our stuff through Priority Mail, we NEVER get UPS, if she had only listened to me this never would have happened!
Me:
(trouble! now I KNOW she's lying, I have never heard of anything from our warehouse being shipped priority mail, and I've worked here for a year! Unfortunately I can't call her on it, because it wasn't me who spoke to her before! damnit!) I'm sorry, I have never heard of any of our products being shipped priority mail, and there is nothing in your account information that suggests this.SC: proceeds to rant, yell, and abuse for the next ten minutes
Me: (after trying to get 400 apologies in edgewise) I'm going to have to talk to the warehouse and see if there is anything we can do. I will have to call you back. Have a good one.
SC: yeah
*click*
Manager came over to see what's up
MGR: Hey, that sounded like a rough one, is everything ok?
Me: (Tries to explain and starts to tear up) ...and she was just so mean!
MGR: Ok, talk to K the warehouse and see what we can do. Don't worry, I would have done the same thing, this would have happened to anyone who answered that call.
So I go down to talk to K, who says he will have to talk to J and get back to me. At 5:30 I haven't heard from him, so I ask Manager if I should wait to call her back till I know what's going on with her order, or if I should call now and tell her I still dont know anything. Not surprisingly, he told me to wait. Time to go home.
Flash forward to this morning!
Manager answers the phone. It's the woman from Alaska, demanding to know what's going on, why didn't we call, why didn't we ship it priority mail etc etc. He's upset, I'm upset. After he gets off the phone he told me I should have called last night, next time be sure to call, etc. I just nod, but inside I am thinking WTF, you told me to wait!! But he's upset. He goes down to the warehouse to see what's going on. He comes back and his eyes are all red, like he's been crying. He asks if I can drive to the post office and mail it out that way if it comes to it. Of course I can. It was my fault after all.
But this b*tch of a woman has now made TWO of us cry! What the hell?? I'm not even entirely sure why! Are we so used to dealing with nice customers who say "God bless you!" when we get off the phone that we can't handle a raging one? Or is it that we actually believe in the mission of our company and really want to do our jobs well that we feel like we've failed if we get one customer who isn't happy? It may seem easy to say that if she's that disappointed she doesn't have to order with us again, but I HATE losing customers. That's one less person supporting Fair Trade in the world.
I don't know. It's very frustrating, that's all I can say. I wish I could go home.
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