I always try very hard to be polite to people in call centers, because I know they don't make the policies that make my life hell. But when something like this happens, and I'm so angry that I'm shaking when I get off the phone, I feel okay about sharing my personal thoughts on the board.
Natter 74: Ready or Not
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, butt kicking, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Oh, yeah, of course! That's so fucked up.
It makes me madder that it's systemically fucked up. On person making a mistake I can forgive; stacking the deck so there is no way for one person to fix the mess is just egregious.
I will say, when I finally got through on that annoying call system, the person on the other end was very sympathetic! She couldn't do anything for me -- it was about that bill I was surprised to get, and it was correct -- but she was very sympathetic about the whole thing.
That was actually part of our training back when I was a customer service rep, listening sympathetically. Because sometimes that's all you can do and sometimes that's all the customer really wants you to do. I've found it useful to keep in mind in a variety of situations.
That is why I try to do my support by chat. If I get enraged, they can't hear me and I have a minute to think about my response. Otherwise, I break out the "Do you mean to tell me...."? and get kind of mean.
Speaking of enraged- it my continuing saga of Outlook, the Dean's Executive Assistant just sent an email saying that she checked outlook calendar for the availability of two times. She wanted everyone (or their assistants) to confirm their availability before sending out a meeting request! That is more steps than needed for this. WHY WHY WHY!!!!
My boss was like "could you just send out an outlook request????"
Oh, mercy. Steph. I am so, so sorry to hear about Toke.
My heart is with you and Tim.
So sorry, Teppy and Tim.
That was actually part of our training back when I was a customer service rep, listening sympathetically. Because sometimes that's all you can do and sometimes that's all the customer really wants you to do. I've found it useful to keep in mind in a variety of situations.
It definitely goes a long way! Make me feel like we're both dealing with a shitty system, not like you are the face of the shitty system.
I have been applying Tituss Burgess to my crappy mood. I might have to escalate to Parks & Rec clips.