Jaded

I'm already getting jaded from the new job.

I guess it's the utterly irrational people I'm dealing with, but I really am starting to understand the bitter customer service rep deal.

This springs out of a long-winded comment I left here that sounded all too much like the ones my sis in law used to go off on and make me wonder if she was nuts.

Basically, it was a post about how rude it is for an employee to 'throw someone under the bus' by complaining about them.

The thing is, though, that people in customer service (like me) get blamed for everything. UPS Driver leaves mud on your doorstep? I hear about it. Am I UPS? Nope. Do I deliver TVs? Nope. But, somehow, it's my fault. Sure I'm customer service, but not for UPS.

Four things that are (already, after two and a half days) making me cranky about customers:

Whenever the phones get backed up, they all want to go off on a 2-3 minute spiel abou thow they were on hold and they've been waiting and it takes so long... Of course, if the last five people hadn't done the exact same thing, then everyone else would have had significantly shorter waits.

People are overly credulous. Today someone received a replacement TV that was broken. He told me that the delivery man told him they were all broken and that he should be happy that it worked a little. I actually had to talk him and his wife out of this scenario. 'Well, uh, ma'am, we don't really make a practice of shipping broken TVs.' I mean, think about how paranoid a thought that is. 'They sent me broken stuff on purpose!' Er... sure. Not like the delivery guy dropped it or anything. We actually have an eeevil warehouse that only sends broken stuff, just to make you MISERABLE!

People have no appreciation for free stuff. Your remote stops working after four months of working fine? Hmmm. I'm thinking you dropped it or whatever. But I don't say that... we don't say that. Nope, we just toss an order over to the warehouse to get you a new unit, with no charge whatsoever. But if the order gets lost or delayed, then it's World War 3, screaming into the telephone! My free remote sent with no questions asked got delayed a week! WHAT KIND OF COMPANY IS THIS??

People that say they don't believe we'll call them back but then complain about being left on hold a long time. '[Ten minute long story full of confusing twists and turns and possible lies]' 'Er... hm. Well, that sounds sort of unusual and I'll need to check with my supervisor. Can I call you back?' 'NO! YOU PEOPLE NEVER CALL ME BACK!' 'Well, I can leave you on hold... ' 'That'll be fine.' [....I go wait in line to talk to a supervisor, explain the WHOLE thing, get told what to ask, go back and ask the customer a couple of things, go wait again, get approval, get everything ready....] 'Okay, Sir. I got that all straightened out and here's what we need to do. .' 'Well... that sounds alright. But I sure don't appreciate being on hold so long.' I SAID I'D CALL YOU BACK! AAH!!

Wow, bet you wanted to read that.

...

Not! HAW HAW!