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I am from the South. I have an accent, I guess. It barely registers around most of the folks in this area (North GA) and my South GA cousins say I don't even have one, and compared to them I don't (my grandpa can't use his On-Star to hands-free dial because it thinks he is saying star when he's really saying "fo-er"-4" . I don't mind Southern accents but there is a section of my customer base who is fast ruining them for me. These would be the middle-aged (I assume, based on the language), Accounts Payable reps who call me and call me honey and sweetie when they really want to call me wh***bag. I don't know why they bother me so much unless it's that they remind me of my third-grade teacher and she was a lunatic and a b****. Add to this recipe the fact that I have a higher-pitched, youthful sounding voice and people tend to think that I am prepubescent over the phone even though I am married, a mother and knocking on 30's door. Therefore, they employ the, "silly, sweet little girl, you have to obey me, I am as old as your mama" routine. Anyway.
My company charges a fuel surcharge. We are a delivery service and guess what, everybody pays it. It is non-negotiable. In fact, if you say you will cancel if we don't waive it, the company-sanctioned verbiage is "I am sorry to hear that. We will be out to pick up your cooler and bottles on <date>. You will be charged a final fuel surcharge for the pickup. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Some customers do not want to pay it. I understand wanting to pay less for anything but their logic escapes me:
"We're paying for your GAS?"
"No. You are paying for the rising cost of petroleum fuel, which is used in our diesel trucks as well as in our plastic bottles. "
"I don't have to pay you to deliver! That's your job!"
"Um...yes, you do have to pay us to do the job you have hired us for. Much like you pay the doctor, the dentist and the grocery store checker, et al, one way or another."
You get the gist. And just imagine the flack when they are in a state that requires us to tax the surcharge. Telling them to call their local revenue office about makes them have a coronary.
So today, I get a call from "Margie" in Accounts Payable with <company>. In my experience, about 98% of the people who work in AP should not be working there because they cannot seem to work a calculator. I know that companies can have vastly different billing systems and that can be confusing but when A+B=C and you say "I just don't understand," you may need to evaluate your chosen profession.
"Margie" was no exception. After insisting to me, quite earnestly that 5 bottles purchased at the price of $6 equaled $28, she then attacked the surcharge.
"We don't pay surcharges," she said. I apologized and went through the spiel-"dramatically increased our operating costs...to keep from compromising the quality of our products...we hope to remove it in the future...however, at this time, we are unable to waive the surcharge."
And then Margie became brilliant.
"Sweetie, you might need to maybe call like, your IT department?" *said in a sugary, sweet tone that implies that I am simple-minded as hell.
"Because they know how to take it off. Maybe you aren't trained on how to do it and all, but there is a way to do it. I work with computers and all and there are ways to take off charges."
And while she was irritating as she could be, she did point out a flaw in my verbiage that I know that future SCs will be sure to cram themselves into and for that I should thank her.
"I apologize ma'am, I misspoke. We WILL NOT remove the surcharge."
But STOP calling me SWEETIE.
My company charges a fuel surcharge. We are a delivery service and guess what, everybody pays it. It is non-negotiable. In fact, if you say you will cancel if we don't waive it, the company-sanctioned verbiage is "I am sorry to hear that. We will be out to pick up your cooler and bottles on <date>. You will be charged a final fuel surcharge for the pickup. Is there anything else I can help you with?" Some customers do not want to pay it. I understand wanting to pay less for anything but their logic escapes me:
"We're paying for your GAS?"
"No. You are paying for the rising cost of petroleum fuel, which is used in our diesel trucks as well as in our plastic bottles. "
"I don't have to pay you to deliver! That's your job!"
"Um...yes, you do have to pay us to do the job you have hired us for. Much like you pay the doctor, the dentist and the grocery store checker, et al, one way or another."
You get the gist. And just imagine the flack when they are in a state that requires us to tax the surcharge. Telling them to call their local revenue office about makes them have a coronary.
So today, I get a call from "Margie" in Accounts Payable with <company>. In my experience, about 98% of the people who work in AP should not be working there because they cannot seem to work a calculator. I know that companies can have vastly different billing systems and that can be confusing but when A+B=C and you say "I just don't understand," you may need to evaluate your chosen profession.
"Margie" was no exception. After insisting to me, quite earnestly that 5 bottles purchased at the price of $6 equaled $28, she then attacked the surcharge.
"We don't pay surcharges," she said. I apologized and went through the spiel-"dramatically increased our operating costs...to keep from compromising the quality of our products...we hope to remove it in the future...however, at this time, we are unable to waive the surcharge."
And then Margie became brilliant.
"Sweetie, you might need to maybe call like, your IT department?" *said in a sugary, sweet tone that implies that I am simple-minded as hell.
"Because they know how to take it off. Maybe you aren't trained on how to do it and all, but there is a way to do it. I work with computers and all and there are ways to take off charges."
And while she was irritating as she could be, she did point out a flaw in my verbiage that I know that future SCs will be sure to cram themselves into and for that I should thank her.
"I apologize ma'am, I misspoke. We WILL NOT remove the surcharge."
But STOP calling me SWEETIE.
You just reminded me of 
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