http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/07/03/my-favorite-blog-today Comments On: My Favorite Blog Today by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:45:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss that one thank god! You have to follow a certain script. The CSR had to ask all those questions to log the call. It isn't optional. Where I work we can't give out any information on an account, customer, or product without verifying the caller's identity and contact info, product info, and account info. None. In my case, if I did that I would be violating a federal law and the company I work for would face fines and I would face dismissal (and in certain cases jail time). All customer service units have a protocol that CSRs have to follow. The CSR doesn't get a choice as to what questions they ask, they just have to ask them.

I have also worked retail and I have noticed that certain people take their shit out on sales clerks because they can't take it out on the people who are really pissing them off. They are too chicken-shit to confront their boss, their co-workers, their spouses, their kids, their parents, their neighbors. They know that nobody else would put up with their crap. They know that they can get you fired from your crappy $8.00/hr job if you retaliate. It's just a pathetic ego power trip to be douchey to some miserable customer service wage slave that can't fight back.
Posted by yucca flower]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:56:39 -0700 The Stranger wished they had said instead of what actually happened.
Posted by gillsans]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:50:29 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Gomez]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:04:02 -0700 The Stranger
Yes, it's not really the rep's fault, but when you're the only human face/voice put out there to represent such awful companies, you'll get shit on. Fairly or not.
Posted by yup.]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:02:40 -0700 The Stranger
To be honest, I can really relate to Mister Angrypants. His ire seems pretty justified - albeit misdirected - to me. For those of us who can remember what it was like when you dialed an 800 number (not 888 and not 866) and got an actual human being on the line right away, these newfangled button-pushing purgatories are designed to waste our time and frustrate the hell out of us.

Now get off my lawn.


Posted by TVDinner]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:00:30 -0700 The Stranger Posted by ineedavacation]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:44:43 -0700 The Stranger
So basically...If you really want someone to help you solve a problem you should be nice to them! (they *hopefully* aren't the one that caused your problem so they really don't deserve to take the brunt of your aggression). They will be much more happy to help you if you're being an ass to them.
Posted by illigren]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:34:44 -0700 The Stranger Posted by TVDinner]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:53:18 -0700 The Stranger Posted by SRJ]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:04:48 -0700 The Stranger
I would have made up a line about not being able to continue with the call without an authorized e-mail address, though.

Fuck that guy, and if you seriously think he deserved help, you probably suffer from the same entitlement complex that allows you to yell at fast food employees. Amazing.
Posted by Nick]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:01:37 -0700 The Stranger Posted by lucida c.]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:40:37 -0700 The Stranger Posted by crazycatguy]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:30:23 -0700 The Stranger Sir, may I help you?


Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:30 -0700 The Stranger literally seen red was when I was working a customer service job and a particularly assholish customer pissed me off in a very obtuse and disrespectful way.

Some customers don't go into stores with the intent of trading their money in exchange for goods and/or services; they go into the store with the intent to take advantage of the opportunity to be a total dick and get away with it, and to take the satisfaction of jerking some poor $8/hr schmuck around.
Posted by john t]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:48:49 -0700 The Stranger
There was also the customer who came in wearing a 3 piece suit with matching tie and hat band, all made of hot pink seersucker. He gives me a headache just thinking about it.
Posted by Griffin]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:40:03 -0700 The Stranger Dell.ca - you only get Indians (Philippinos for spare parts).

Now, I work with a lot of Indians so they were highly amused to hear my stories of outrageously polite and completely ineffectual people far more concerned with being obtusely detailed and constantly running over the same information ground than actually fixing the problem - because for some of my coworkers, this trait was *exactly* what drove them up the wall and made them happy enough to leave the country.

I got so fed up trying to get them to understand than my new Dell (that I slapped OS X on) had a *hardware* problem with the speakers (even telling the guy what, exactly, was wrong) that I ended up having to go into public and Dell forums to blast 'em with the result that I got the attention of someone from HQ who kicked my case up the chain. Then every single freakin' sales rep in India that I had to deal with called me to apologize. Twelve calls to my office over two days... .

I absolutely adore my iDell but the customer service is the worst I've ever had to deal with (and I'm including ISP's). And, come on, I'm *Canadian* and, therefore, polite with them. The worse I did was ending up just not responding to any more useless calls and insisting that one person emails me only if all the information I'd provided multiple times wasn't enough - I wasn't going to reconfirmation that I'd already reconfirmed about the info that I gave them, and only if it's to pass me along information re: courier returns info, estimated turn-around time and when I was going to get a credit refund for a keyboard the Phillipino parts guy sent to me erroneous. Everything else? Right into the delete folder.

iDell is back and beautiful and has become essential for me but there's no freakin' way in hell I'm going to ever buy another Dell as long as their service centre isn't even located where their actual market is. Actually... if Apple finally burps up a decent, light netbook, I'll just never get another Dell again. Period.
Posted by Your Name Here]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:36:17 -0700 The Stranger
customer (an elderly nun): can I get a discount?
me: only if you have our discount card
customer: but I'm a nun
me: we are in a heavily Jewish neighborhood, and we'd go broke if we gave a discount to every rabbi who walked in here (btw, I'm Jewish)
customer: well, the Jews have all the money so they don't need the discount
me: I beg your pardon?
customer then paid for her book and left.

So to give a break to all those retail slaves out there, don't shop on holidays! Stores are open because we go in and buy stuff. July 4, Memorial Day, New Year's Day and so forth should be days off for everyone except emergency service workers. We don't have to shop every day of our lives, people.
Posted by mischiefmanager]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:36:00 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Arsenic7]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:13:06 -0700 The Stranger
Basically, I think retail clerks should carry tasers, pepper spray and handguns and be encouraged to use all three at once if the customer really deserves it. The shopping experience would be better for all of us if they did that.
Posted by Luke Baggins]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:10:34 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Longmont forever]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:40:38 -0700 The Stranger
6 - Really? I had a Dell and it was total shit, but every time I called the customer service line I found them extremely helpful. Much better than the CS line for Mac (though, I guess they don't need to have great customer service since they have far superior computers).
Posted by Jocelyn]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:34:48 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Timmytee]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:02:18 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:59:01 -0700 The Stranger Posted by kari]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:56:53 -0700 The Stranger Posted by King Rat]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:47:13 -0700 The Stranger