Company Policy is the same Company-wide

[bhskittykatt]

Side note: We don't take credit cards over the phone. In order to charge a card that's not physically here, we need to do a third-party CC authorization over fax.

SC calls up looking for a room for his brother. He says he's retired, but with his heavy southern accent it comes out more like "retard," which I think is more accurate. He goes on and on about how his brother is down on his luck, is coming in on a train tonight, and needs a room.

He wants to pay with a card over the phone. I explain to him the company policy.

SC: "Well, that's what they said when I called your 800 number, but I thought I'd just try to see if you'd do it differently."

Okay, so you knew the policy before you called, wasted my time as you droned on and on for five minutes about your brother before getting to your request, and then wanted to see if just maybe the company policy would magically change for you?

[Hyndis]

Ahh yes, the type that prattles on for ages before finally asking a question. The longer they prattle on, the simpler the answer will be and the more irrelevant the prattling will be.

I get that all the time, people spending a good 5 minutes or so telling me all of their system specs and other incredibly detail, yet useless information.

Here's a clueepon to those who do that:

I'm not taking any notes.


When they finally ask the question, then I will decide if I need to know any information. This may include asking someone to repeat what they foolishly provided before they made their request, thus, wasting both of our time.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Unfortunately, for many companies, different managers handle the same scenarios differently. Therefore there is no uniform expectation developed by the customer.

Who among us has never heard: "Oh I'll just go to your [OTHER LOCATION], they do it for me there!" or some variation thereof?

Usually each manager is free to interpret policies as they see fit and make exceptions as they deem necessary. Since managers have varying degrees of spine ridgidity, you never quite know how it's going to go.

[jackfaire]

Unfortunately, for many companies, different managers handle the same scenarios differently. Therefore there is no uniform expectation developed by the customer.

Except from the sounds of it the person called the Corporate office that sets the standard policy.

Yeah some things not covered by corporate policy might change but most things handed down from corporate are across the board.

[Anthony K. S.]

Wait, wait, I know this one . . .

The technical term for it escapes me at the moment . . .

. . . Is it Criticus Microscopium? No, that's the Nitpicker.

Slobbius Disrespectus? Uh, no, that would be the Dumper.

Could it be Socialis Ignoramus? No, wait, that's the Neanderthal, although, really, that phrase could apply to a lot of different kinds of customers . . .

And it's definitely not Rudis Summonus. We are all quite familiar with the Whistler.

Hmmm . . . Oh, wait a minute! I've got it!

You have encountered Verbosa Unnecessarium. Also known as the Chatterbox.

I knew I'd get it eventually.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Who among us has never heard: "Oh I'll just go to your [OTHER LOCATION], they do it for me there!" or some variation thereof?

Yeah, but how often is that actually true?

[Dave1982]

Except from the sounds of it the person called the Corporate office that sets the standard policy.

So? The corporate office of my company sets all the polices, yet if we enforce them at the cost of pissing off a customer, we're the bad guy. It would not surprise me if a manager somewhere were to cave on this issue just to avoid having an unhappy customer.

[jackfaire]

I can see that sometimes supervisors in my company will violate law to make the customer happy.

[Can I have a cheeseburger]

Yeah, but how often is that actually true?

I know for a fact one of my co-workers pulled that off with Starbucks in my city. One location refused to make a drink that was launching the following week, but she went down the street and another location was happy to make the drink.