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Getting the effects of the full moon off my chest...
Hi Everyone... I'm a long time lurker, first time poster...
I don't really have much of interest to post, but I need to vent about the past few days at work. I have been doing inbound customer service at a large wholesale catalog order company for 7 years. It's wearing on me. Here are a few snippets from my last two days at work...
Call:
SC: Hi, I'm calling to check the status of my order.
Me: I'd be happy to help you with that ..... I see that your order shipped out yesterday via UPS. I tracked it through their site, and I see it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
SC: SO IT'S NOT COMING VIA UPS??!!!
Me:
It IS coming via UPS, and it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
SC: So when am I going to get it? Tomorrow?
Why.... Why.... Why do they ask questions and not listen to the answer?? Have you noticed how much worse this is during a full moon? They are scatterbrained and don't let you finish a sentence. Another sampling of a recent call:
SC: Can you tell me why my invoice says blah, blah, blah?
Me: I can definitely help you with...
SC: Because I don't understand why it would say blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!
Me: Which invoice are you......
SC: Because last week it said blah blah blah blah blah and this week it says blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: I see what the probl....
SC: You people are always messing up my orders! Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah.. <insert any and all irrelevant personal information imaginable here>... blah blah blah blah...
Me: I..
SC: blah
Me: Th..
SC: blah blah blah
Me: Uh..
SC: blah blah blah blah!!
Me: (as fast as I can get the words out - trying not to be interrupted) That-can-be-upsetting-when-you-have-problems-with-your-orders. I know exactly how to fix th....
SC: And another thing... I need you to adjust this and this and this.
Me: Okay.... I can do that.. but first we need to deal with your first iss....
SC: Oh, and I need you to do this too: blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: Ma'am, I can only process one trans..... (action at a time)
SC: Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: *dead silent*
SC: Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: *dead silent*
SC: Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: *dead silent*
SC: Blah blah blah blah.... Are you still there?
Me: Yes
SC: Did you adjust all that?
Me: No (I've decided at this point not to try to speak more than one word at a time)
SC: *confused but silent for once*
Me: Are you ready for me to process these adjustments you called about?
SC: *confused* Yes....
Me: Okay, I can do that. I will need to process each adjustment individually. Let's start at the beginning. What is the first thing that you need to take care of today? (I could have taken notes... maybe I even did.. but there are only a few ways we can punish them without getting in trouble and this is one of them - I lose points if I ask them to repeat themselves the first time I do it... and it's only a few points... so I might as well have them repeat themselves ragged sometimes - I like to wear them out
)
Another thing, I can not stand the ones that try to argue with me, like I'm arguing with them.. when I'm not. It's really weird to be a part of a one-sided argument like that. I've come up with a response that usually shames them into shutting up:
"I'm sorry, was I speaking to you in a tone that suggested that I was arguing with you about this?"
I say it real sweet and wounded-like... it's perfection.
One of my last calls tonight was a very abusive long time customer. Most of the long timers are great, but this woman was just extremely cranky. She had been doing shady things, placing orders for things she shouldn't be able to order.. and it had backfired, causing one case full of products to bill at around $75 but not ship... because it wasn't supposed to bill OR ship... but the billing had slipped through the cracks. The customer insisted I credit or replace it immediately.. but this type of credit requires management approval. I explained that I could forward her into the management voicemail to leave a message for correction and she flipped out - became severely abusive and finally demanded a supervisor. Backfire #2 - the supervisor is my friend. Not only did she deny the customer's request, but she reported the customer to corporate for abusive behavior towards Customer Service.
So anyway.... I'm sure I could go on. Wooooo. I sure enjoyed getting that out.
Thanks for listening
I don't really have much of interest to post, but I need to vent about the past few days at work. I have been doing inbound customer service at a large wholesale catalog order company for 7 years. It's wearing on me. Here are a few snippets from my last two days at work...
Call:
SC: Hi, I'm calling to check the status of my order.
Me: I'd be happy to help you with that ..... I see that your order shipped out yesterday via UPS. I tracked it through their site, and I see it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
SC: SO IT'S NOT COMING VIA UPS??!!!
Me:
It IS coming via UPS, and it's scheduled for delivery tomorrow.SC: So when am I going to get it? Tomorrow?
Why.... Why.... Why do they ask questions and not listen to the answer?? Have you noticed how much worse this is during a full moon? They are scatterbrained and don't let you finish a sentence. Another sampling of a recent call:
SC: Can you tell me why my invoice says blah, blah, blah?
Me: I can definitely help you with...
SC: Because I don't understand why it would say blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!
Me: Which invoice are you......
SC: Because last week it said blah blah blah blah blah and this week it says blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: I see what the probl....
SC: You people are always messing up my orders! Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah.. <insert any and all irrelevant personal information imaginable here>... blah blah blah blah...
Me: I..
SC: blah
Me: Th..
SC: blah blah blah
Me: Uh..
SC: blah blah blah blah!!
Me: (as fast as I can get the words out - trying not to be interrupted) That-can-be-upsetting-when-you-have-problems-with-your-orders. I know exactly how to fix th....
SC: And another thing... I need you to adjust this and this and this.
Me: Okay.... I can do that.. but first we need to deal with your first iss....
SC: Oh, and I need you to do this too: blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: Ma'am, I can only process one trans..... (action at a time)
SC: Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: *dead silent*
SC: Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: *dead silent*
SC: Blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Me: *dead silent*
SC: Blah blah blah blah.... Are you still there?
Me: Yes
SC: Did you adjust all that?
Me: No (I've decided at this point not to try to speak more than one word at a time)
SC: *confused but silent for once*
Me: Are you ready for me to process these adjustments you called about?
SC: *confused* Yes....
Me: Okay, I can do that. I will need to process each adjustment individually. Let's start at the beginning. What is the first thing that you need to take care of today? (I could have taken notes... maybe I even did.. but there are only a few ways we can punish them without getting in trouble and this is one of them - I lose points if I ask them to repeat themselves the first time I do it... and it's only a few points... so I might as well have them repeat themselves ragged sometimes - I like to wear them out
)Another thing, I can not stand the ones that try to argue with me, like I'm arguing with them.. when I'm not. It's really weird to be a part of a one-sided argument like that. I've come up with a response that usually shames them into shutting up:
"I'm sorry, was I speaking to you in a tone that suggested that I was arguing with you about this?"
I say it real sweet and wounded-like... it's perfection.
One of my last calls tonight was a very abusive long time customer. Most of the long timers are great, but this woman was just extremely cranky. She had been doing shady things, placing orders for things she shouldn't be able to order.. and it had backfired, causing one case full of products to bill at around $75 but not ship... because it wasn't supposed to bill OR ship... but the billing had slipped through the cracks. The customer insisted I credit or replace it immediately.. but this type of credit requires management approval. I explained that I could forward her into the management voicemail to leave a message for correction and she flipped out - became severely abusive and finally demanded a supervisor. Backfire #2 - the supervisor is my friend. Not only did she deny the customer's request, but she reported the customer to corporate for abusive behavior towards Customer Service.
So anyway.... I'm sure I could go on. Wooooo. I sure enjoyed getting that out.
Thanks for listening
Eric the Grey
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