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It's hard to admit, but despite all the experience we have dealing with the angry people, the narcissists, the mentally deficient and melodramatic customers of this world.. sometimes we inadvertently find ourselves on the other side of the equation.
Go on, admit it. You've been a sucky customer once in your life.
A quick note about me: I work in IT, so my skillset necessarily involves troubleshooting, problem solving, and attention to detail. Let me stress that - I do this a million times a day, and am, if I may say so, very good at what I do. Keeping that in mind, here's a story about a broken oven..
Now.
About six months ago, I moved into a new apartment. Not being what you'd call a culinary master (making a sandwich is the height of my comestible prowess), it was about a month before I needed to use the oven.
I turn the temperature dial to 200° C, wait about fifteen minutes, and open the oven.
Stone cold.
I try the hotplates to see if the power is working at all (it's an electric oven, not gas). Power: Check. I pull out all the trays, grab a torch and look around to see if I can see the element. Nothing to be seen, but some ovens have them enclosed in the base, so I unscrew the plate below the oven door to try and get in. All my prior experience in oven repair has the unfortunate disadvantage of being fictitious, so I give up and call the Real Estate Agent I rent through to organise someone to come out to have a look at it. In the end, my property manager organises for a service repair person to swing by her office to get the house keys (work prevented me from being able to be there) and check out my oven.
The day comes, and that day I get a call from the repairman telling me he came out and found nothing wrong with the oven whatsoever. Whilst my inner self immediately begins construction of a fifty foot monument to the letters "WTF", I thank him and advise that I will test it when I get home.
I arrive back at my apartment and - you guessed it - it's still not working. I call back the repairman and, trying not to sound irritated, explain to him that it's clearly, unequivocally not working. Is he sure he checked it? Really? The oven, not the hotplate, right? Big door, large empty space, excellent choice of location for large uncooked food items? Yes?
It's apparent to me at this point that I am being a little condescending, but it's kind of hard for me to believe the guy did his job properly - what, did it suddenly fix itself for the duration of his visit, then immediately reverted to its non-functional state as soon as he left? I doubt it. I request a follow up service, for which I will make sure I am home so I can, as I tell him, "Show you the problem."
Two days later, the second appointment. He comes in, politely introduces himself and asks if I might show him "the problem". I walk over and turn the oven temperature dial all the way up. "It's not going to work. Just watch." I stand back, triumph in my eyes.
The repairman screws up his face for a second, then slowly, he says, "Ah."
Ah?
"I think I see the problem."
He moves beside me, leans down, and kindly says, "See this dial here, next to the temperature knob? It's got two settings, see: Grill, and Oven. Some of these old ovens won't power both at once, so you need to tuuurn this switch here, from grill, you can see here where it says grill, you turn the switch to to oven."
Oh.
Shit.
"Sorry, mate," he says, or at least I think he said that. I was a little preoccupied with my own thoughts of This Is Not Happening. "It's not your fault - they should have shown you how to use it when you moved in."
Was that pity? Did I just hear kindly, pat-on-the-head, here-boy-have-a-treat pity? He thinks I'm as dumb as a... as a... as a customer. Oh god.
"Oh," I say. "Oh."
"Don't worry about it - I'll just write on the service order that there was something wrong with.. uh.. I'll make a note that.. well I'll think of something."
Oh god help me.
"Anyway, I think that about wraps it up. Have a good day mate."
"Um. Thanks. Thank you. Um. Okay. Thank you. Bye."
Hi. My name's Dave, and I'm guilty of being an SC
Go on, admit it. You've been a sucky customer once in your life.
A quick note about me: I work in IT, so my skillset necessarily involves troubleshooting, problem solving, and attention to detail. Let me stress that - I do this a million times a day, and am, if I may say so, very good at what I do. Keeping that in mind, here's a story about a broken oven..
Now.
About six months ago, I moved into a new apartment. Not being what you'd call a culinary master (making a sandwich is the height of my comestible prowess), it was about a month before I needed to use the oven.
I turn the temperature dial to 200° C, wait about fifteen minutes, and open the oven.
Stone cold.
I try the hotplates to see if the power is working at all (it's an electric oven, not gas). Power: Check. I pull out all the trays, grab a torch and look around to see if I can see the element. Nothing to be seen, but some ovens have them enclosed in the base, so I unscrew the plate below the oven door to try and get in. All my prior experience in oven repair has the unfortunate disadvantage of being fictitious, so I give up and call the Real Estate Agent I rent through to organise someone to come out to have a look at it. In the end, my property manager organises for a service repair person to swing by her office to get the house keys (work prevented me from being able to be there) and check out my oven.
The day comes, and that day I get a call from the repairman telling me he came out and found nothing wrong with the oven whatsoever. Whilst my inner self immediately begins construction of a fifty foot monument to the letters "WTF", I thank him and advise that I will test it when I get home.
I arrive back at my apartment and - you guessed it - it's still not working. I call back the repairman and, trying not to sound irritated, explain to him that it's clearly, unequivocally not working. Is he sure he checked it? Really? The oven, not the hotplate, right? Big door, large empty space, excellent choice of location for large uncooked food items? Yes?
It's apparent to me at this point that I am being a little condescending, but it's kind of hard for me to believe the guy did his job properly - what, did it suddenly fix itself for the duration of his visit, then immediately reverted to its non-functional state as soon as he left? I doubt it. I request a follow up service, for which I will make sure I am home so I can, as I tell him, "Show you the problem."
Two days later, the second appointment. He comes in, politely introduces himself and asks if I might show him "the problem". I walk over and turn the oven temperature dial all the way up. "It's not going to work. Just watch." I stand back, triumph in my eyes.
The repairman screws up his face for a second, then slowly, he says, "Ah."
Ah?
"I think I see the problem."
He moves beside me, leans down, and kindly says, "See this dial here, next to the temperature knob? It's got two settings, see: Grill, and Oven. Some of these old ovens won't power both at once, so you need to tuuurn this switch here, from grill, you can see here where it says grill, you turn the switch to to oven."
Oh.
Shit.
"Sorry, mate," he says, or at least I think he said that. I was a little preoccupied with my own thoughts of This Is Not Happening. "It's not your fault - they should have shown you how to use it when you moved in."
Was that pity? Did I just hear kindly, pat-on-the-head, here-boy-have-a-treat pity? He thinks I'm as dumb as a... as a... as a customer. Oh god.
"Oh," I say. "Oh."
"Don't worry about it - I'll just write on the service order that there was something wrong with.. uh.. I'll make a note that.. well I'll think of something."
Oh god help me.
"Anyway, I think that about wraps it up. Have a good day mate."
"Um. Thanks. Thank you. Um. Okay. Thank you. Bye."
Hi. My name's Dave, and I'm guilty of being an SC
)
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