Friday, July 3, 2009
Retail My Favorite Blog Today
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 12:22 PM
Slog Commenter and all-around great guy NaFun Twittered this blog yesterday, but I think today's a great day to explore it a little further: Not Always Right is a blog collecting particularly hellish interactions with customers.
I'm sure that some of you commenters (probably the ones who never worked retail before) are already getting huffy and pre-imagining your comments: "Why don't they get a better job instead of working retail like a punk?" I can hear you huff, before you huffily add, "People who work in retail deserve what they get and need to stop whining!"
To which I say: Calm down, Huffy. It's not a particularly whiny blog. I especially like this post:
Always Right, Even When Shooting Down A Helicopter
Golf Course | Finland(At the golf course where I work, it’s been a very a hot day and an older man unfortunately has a stroke/heart attack in the middle of the range. The course is at a remote location, so a medical helicopter is called in and lands in the middle of the range. Another golfer comes over, obviously upset.)
Golfer: “It’s my tee! I want to take my shot but the helicopter is blocking it.”
Me: “Sir, there’s a medical emergency on the range so you’ll have to wait for a little while.”
Golfer: “But it’s my shot! I pay good money to play here and it’s my shot!”
Me: “Sir, someone may be dying over there. Please have some patience. It shouldn’t take long until they lift off.”
Golfer: “If they get hit, it’s their own fault.”
(The man then pulls a club out and before I can stop him, he swings and hits the helicopter.)
Me: “Sir! For God’s sake, stop!”Golfer: “It’s my tee! They can just blame themselves for being in the way. I don’t have time for this!”
(I ended up reporting him to the caddie master and range supervisors. His license was revoked and was banned from playing there ever again. Thankfully, the helicopter was not damaged and the patient was saved.)
People can be so incredibly awful sometimes, and often that awfulness is extra-hilarious. Take a look at the blog when you get a chance.
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1
Dear Paul Constant,
Some of us actually have to work today, but now that's all shot to shit.
Love, Jocelyn.
Some of us actually have to work today, but now that's all shot to shit.
Love, Jocelyn.
2
I worked in Consumer Service for four years, and managed a Contact Center for a year. It's shit, and a lot of people are total assholes and they make you wanna cry.
That being said, that Dell call was totally the representatives fault. If the person's that pissed off, he should know better than to keep asking for his info. There's no reason to waste the dudes time, and no reason to keep him on the line for that long when they're making your life that hard.
And if Dell's management is that strict that they demand they ask that for all callers, then their management sucks and they should be let go.
Love the helicopter story though. That sounds more like what I expect for bad consumer/customer service stories.
And that being said, I did quit cause I couldn't handle it anymore. In November 08 and then proceeded to spend six months unemployed and unable to find a job without being able to receive unemployment. I'm still glad I did it.
That being said, that Dell call was totally the representatives fault. If the person's that pissed off, he should know better than to keep asking for his info. There's no reason to waste the dudes time, and no reason to keep him on the line for that long when they're making your life that hard.
And if Dell's management is that strict that they demand they ask that for all callers, then their management sucks and they should be let go.
Love the helicopter story though. That sounds more like what I expect for bad consumer/customer service stories.
And that being said, I did quit cause I couldn't handle it anymore. In November 08 and then proceeded to spend six months unemployed and unable to find a job without being able to receive unemployment. I'm still glad I did it.
3
I'm reading this at work, while surrounded by some of the dumbest customers I have seen in months. Holiday weekends are pure hell.
4
I love that blog, I actually think it was you that turned me onto it a month or two ago. I wasted way too much time reading through the archives....
5
Why didn't the CSR just say "hold the power button for 10 seconds" in the first place? I'd be just as pissed at the CSR for wanting all sorts of private information that isn't necessary.
6
@ 2&5- I agree- Dell is just one of the worst companies out there for customer service. I've had consistently bad experiences every time I call them.
8
Holy Crap! You mean that's all I gotta do--hold down the OFF button for TEN seconds!?!? Jesus Christ! I've got a Dell laptop, and it sometimes it will not shut down. I pull the power cord out and let the battery run down--takes about three hours, and it's a real pain in the ass. Don't blame that customer one bit for being upset.
9
8 - LOL. That's kind of like the time I couldn't figure out how to work the emergency eject on my Mac, and so Ferris Bueller's Day Off was in there for like four months.
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).
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).
11
Working retail in a bookstore was absolutely the most fun job I ever had. It didn't pay very well though, and I left it for a better paying programming job. While there, we rehearsed how to deal with asshole customers and the mantra was "Kill them with kindness". No matter what kind of abuse they fling, they're still right. I had serious doubts then, and I continue to doubt whether this approach is really in the long-term best interests of the retail industry. Of course, the customer is your livelihood and should be treated with deference and respect, but the level of servility that we were trained to seems to invite assholery. I think a more rational approach would be for all customer service businesses to define a threshold beyond which the customer is no longer right and no longer welcome. Bar staff generally have this kind of attitude, and it works well for them. Everybody understands that they're here to serve you food and drink, but will dump you if you're an asshole, and other bar patrons respect the system. Every time I see someone 86ed from Baranof, I respect the place that much more.
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.
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.
13
This is a great blog. I've read it for a couple of years now, having been a bookseller for a good while and experienced some indescribable behavior. For example:
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.
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.
14
Hey... at least this guy got a Dell sales rep in the US. Try calling 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.
More...
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.
15
I don't know if you have transcendental meditators out in Seattle (probably, but I'm not sure). I used to work for them in a retail outlet. I once had a customer come in saying he had just finished a course of chemo and then proceed to tell me how evil the Western medicine that was saving his life was because Western medicine uses scientific methods to determine the efficacy of treatments. Then he asked if we did colonics in our retail space.
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.
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.
16
The only time in my life I have ever 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.
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.
18
Dell is notorious for bad customer service. Why didn't the rep just tell him out to shut it down? What does the guy's email address have to do with anything?
19
@2 Uh, doesn't customer-man have a responsibility as a human being to treat other human beings with basic self-respect? I can only believe that Dell CSR guy was in the wrong if customers are held to the same standard of behavior we would ascribe to a wild animal. I guess some of them act that way, but that doesn't make it OK...
20
Once someone begins yelling at you/actually saying "fuck" while you are doing your job, you earn the right to do all of the things typically asked of you in the interest of wrecking their fucking day.
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.
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.
21
I love Not Always Right and I desperately hope that this tech services guy was deliberately infuriating this foul-mouthed moron by blandly asking him his name, phone number, etc. when a simple answer would have done.
23
A lot of people's problem is that they don't feel the need to treat customer service reps as people. They get all pissed off that they've had to go through the automated system and are just itching to scream at the first human they speak to. People calling customer service lines need to be prepared to deal with an automated system without getting overly pissed off at the world.
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.
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.
24
Yeah, the rep probably shouldn't have continued with that line of questioning since the consumer was chugging the rageohol, but if people start yelling and swearing at me, they get a warning, then my best impression of a dial tone. Not that I'm offended by those pig fuckers, but I have better things to do.
25
@23: I agree that people need to remember that the voice at the other end of the line belongs to another human being, but I strongly disagree with your statement that we need to be prepared to deal with an automated system. Automated systems are not created to help us, the customer. They are created to help the company, and they cost us insane amounts of time and frustration. Help me understand why I need to go through a 15 minute gauntlet of button pushing just so I can speak to an actual human being to get an answer to a simple question.
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.
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.
26
@23 - obviously it's unfair to blame the representative, but when you've spent too much time being jerked around by those godawful automated systems - systems that are very clearly designed for the convenience of the company at the customer's expense; systems designed to get the less dedicated customers to give up and go away - it often takes a lot of effort not to lose your shit. By the time we finally get to speak to a human being, our fuse has been considerably shortened.
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.
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.
27
Great find, Paul. People frequently walk in the door with their hangups and issues and decide to take it out on the guy behind the counter, the guy on the phone, the waiter/waitress... instead of sacking up and fixing the problems that leave them so impotently frustrated.
28
I get the feeling that a lot of the exchanges on Not Always Right end with what the employee wished they had said instead of what actually happened.
29
I work in a call center. Not 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.
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.
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