Yep. I agree with all of this - I work with the public - in person usually. Inevitably, dealing a wide cross-section of humanity I come across all sorts of people: polite, grateful, knowledgeable, aggressive, under the influence of alchohol and / or drugs, mentally distressed ... or just simply someone who wants to take out their fustration on somebody and I happen to be the one in line.

One reason why I took the decision to work part-time when my workplace restructured last year, was to avoid this day to day, high-impact working. Certainly, I feel more able to deal with whoever comes in now because I'm not so tired or stressed and I feel I have the energy (mental and physical) to pursue other things (like GA!).

So true, tim. Do unto others... I interacted with tons of people daily, and I actually miss that since I retired. Not all service people are equal, though, but I always give a person a few chances when I'm on the other side. I just spoke to a guy from my satellite provider today, and the patience he showed was admirable as I ran around trying to hook up a receiver to a different TV... it was my son's room and I didn't know where anything was... I kept apologizing, but he just reassured me it was fine and to take my time. I told him how terrific he was at his job by the time we were done. Cheers....

So true, tim. Do unto others... I interacted with tons of people daily, and I actually miss that since I retired. Not all service people are equal, though, but I always give a person a few chances when I'm on the other side. I just spoke to a guy from my satellite provider today, and the patience he showed was admirable as I ran around trying to hook up a receiver to a different TV... it was my son's room and I didn't know where anything was... I kept apologizing, but he just reassured me it was fine and to take my time. I told him how terrific he was at his job by the time we were done. Cheers....

Oh yeah you're right Gary, all csr's aren't angels. And I understand you getting pissed with them .. however I am human and thoughtful and kind and I sure as shit did not deserve what that woman said to me! Glad you had a good one today!!

Yep. I agree with all of this - I work with the public - in person usually. Inevitably, dealing a wide cross-section of humanity I come across all sorts of people: polite, grateful, knowledgeable, aggressive, under the influence of alchohol and / or drugs, mentally distressed ... or just simply someone who wants to take out their fustration on somebody and I happen to be the one in line.

 

One reason why I took the decision to work part-time when my workplace restructured last year, was to avoid this day to day, high-impact working. Certainly, I feel more able to deal with whoever comes in now because I'm not so tired or stressed and I feel I have the energy (mental and physical) to pursue other things (like GA!).

mmm yes, part time sounds nice. ... mostly i'm happy though!!

I would hope she meant that rather than chat with a human she wanted to talk to a human, but I fear your perception may be right.

I prefer to email or even chat-by-computer with customer services, so I cannot really relate to that woman wanting to talk to somebody. Nor would I forget there's a human at the other end, that would be inexcusable.

Oh, a fellow CSR! :hugs:

Sometimes it's hard to be nice, even though I'm a person who likes to help.

My guess is, the woman thought you were a machine at the other end of chat. It's incredible, sometimes a customer asks whether we are a prerecorded voice or in fact can make an individual response even on the phone. 

Once a customer asked me to transfer his call to someone, who speaks a decent German. My boss took the call. He has the strongest accent I ever heard :-P

For the most part CSR's are in my opinion the most patient people i have ever dealt with. Being the office manager for a large (50 horse) boarding facility, customer service is by far the largest part of my job, so I make it a point to be pleasant when I call for help. But there are idiots on both sides of the fence. I do not interupt a riding lesson to answer the phone, i let it go to voice mail and call back. When I got a very nasty message saying the woman had called four times and not recieved a call back, a little digging in my phone showed all four calls were in a twenty minute time frame, the first left only a phone number but no name, the next two no message at all, and the last was the nasty complaint. On the other side of the coin, I once called my mortage company looking to increase the amount going to the tax escrow account so i would not be hit with a shortage every year. The CSR could not understand why I wanted to do this, and kept saying it could not be done because "Well, ma'am, we just don't know what your tax bills are going to do." Really?!?! Have any of you had your taxes go down enough to make a difference in your mortage payments?

I always do the automated poll at the end, good or bad service, although I did once leave the comment that they really goofed when they hired this idiot as a CSR.

Oh, a fellow CSR! :hugs:

 

Sometimes it's hard to be nice, even though I'm a person who likes to help.

 

My guess is, the woman thought you were a machine at the other end of chat. It's incredible, sometimes a customer asks whether we are a prerecorded voice or in fact can make an individual response even on the phone. 

 

Once a customer asked me to transfer his call to someone, who speaks a decent German. My boss took the call. He has the strongest accent I ever heard :-P

Oh trust me, she knew exactly what she was saying.  She was awful from the get go... but meh!

And big csr type hugs back!! xo

For the most part CSR's are in my opinion the most patient people i have ever dealt with. Being the office manager for a large (50 horse) boarding facility, customer service is by far the largest part of my job, so I make it a point to be pleasant when I call for help. But there are idiots on both sides of the fence. I do not interupt a riding lesson to answer the phone, i let it go to voice mail and call back. When I got a very nasty message saying the woman had called four times and not recieved a call back, a little digging in my phone showed all four calls were in a twenty minute time frame, the first left only a phone number but no name, the next two no message at all, and the last was the nasty complaint. On the other side of the coin, I once called my mortage company looking to increase the amount going to the tax escrow account so i would not be hit with a shortage every year. The CSR could not understand why I wanted to do this, and kept saying it could not be done because "Well, ma'am, we just don't know what your tax bills are going to do." Really?!?! Have any of you had your taxes go down enough to make a difference in your mortage payments? I always do the automated poll at the end, good or bad service, although I did once leave the comment that they really goofed when they hired this idiot as a CSR.

Oh Kitt... people make me shake my head all day. Here's a good one from today through unsecure online chat.  

Customer: I want a new savings account with a better interest rate

Me: Okay, have you looked over the various types we offer? (I cant see her accounts at all)

Customer: I've looked them all. Which is the best one for me?

Me: (feeling rather deer in the headlightish thinking.. what the heck?) I said well can you afford to keep $5,000 in your account

Customer: Yes

From there I made recommendations. But honestly, I'd never heard anything like it...She ended up happy though. 

I wonder why we have a website with info on it, cuz no one ever reads it. 

Your mortgage guy needs to learn to listen!!