Customers at work - OMG!

[Tradd]

I really don’t know what has gotten into people. We all pick up incoming calls. No receptionist. It’s often for another person in my dept. I say “so and so handles that. Let me transfer you to them. One moment please.” The person calling starts screaming about whatever the issue is and won’t stop yelling in order for me to transfer them to the appropriate person. OMG. This happens multiple times daily with many different callers.

The issues in question often aren’t anything major at all. Someone who was a brand new customer does the screaming routine everytime they call. Have done it from day one. WTF. And when you nicely tell them you’ll transfer them to the person who handles their stuff, more screaming. They just won’t shut up.

I’d love to tell them to save their breath to tell it all to the person who handles their stuff, but can’t do that.

Ssheesh.

[Teacher Terry]

That sounds truly awful!

[pinkytoe]

I'm not sure this stuff happens just in work situations. People today are far less civil to each other than not too long ago. I miss civility:(

[Gardenarian]

It sounds like your company takes care of customers.
Most of us have been through all the rings of voice mail hell and the first step down that path is being put on hold or transferred.
I always try to get the name and direct number of the person I need to talk to.

My health insurance company, it's always a 30 minute ordeal - sometimes multiple calls and days!

I don't excuse people who freak out on you, but I sure understand.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Tradd, I sympathize. I deal with this in my position - not on the phone but face to face with the Banquet Staffing Service's clients as in my position I'm the closest person with any authority whatsoever as to how the banquet event comes off and how it is perceived. Anything off? I'm the first one to hear of it and sometimes it's much less than civil. I try to remember that this person is a victim too of economic forces beyond their control and that this person I'm dealing with also has citizenship in the only country in the first world in which human life means so little (evidenced by the lack of socialized medicine). Usually I am able to not take such things personally and let them slide right on off me as if I were covered in Teflon......all I have to do is look at the situation from the lens of the deficiencies with this citizenship and remember that we are all vulnerable to it.

Something else that helps is to remember that we are all - unless we are at the top of the hierarchy - vulnerable to sociopathic law enforcement officers running amok doing as they please, breaking the law and illegally killing and attacking and escalating situations for no legal or real reason. But, on the other hand, I am a human being and sometimes I do take it personally. This is one time that I am glad I have reconnected with my faith (not to get religious on you'all, this is not my intention here). But it's hard to be treated this way, yes, and I'm lucky in the sense that I saw through this society in stages at a very young age - I can only begin to imagine how awful being treated this way for those who have not had these realizations.......and the coping skills I have acquired via having these realizations.

Tradd, I know there's been friction between us from time to time but I hold nothing against you. I will pass along some wisdom about working I have acquired over the years - you may reject it, this is totally up to you and I get that, ok? Here goes: Work is all about money, nothing more, nothing less. Work is not about making friends - though it is helpful to be on at least civil terms with your co-workers. Work has nothing at all to do with your identity in the world, and in my mind anyway, nor should it ever. It is all about getting money into your hands, nothing more, nothing less. Furthermore, though you owe your employer a good days work (I do believe this), you owe no employer anything remotely resembling loyalty (do you honestly believe employers these days have one iota of loyalty towards you?)......it's all about you in the workplace, but not blatantly. What I mean is that if a better deal comes along, one that you have done your due diligence on and honestly believe it's a better deal/fit for you - these days you jump ship at the speed of light. Though I would not say this to someone with a pension-accruing job, which I would treat a little differently. Anyway - best wishes in dealing with this and I wish you the best.......Rob

[iris lilies]

Oh sweet jesus, “sociopathic law enforcement officers.”

This thread has nothing to do with that, but I understand that is the dominent thought in your life.

Carry on. If you must.

[Zoe Girl]

Customer service, geez, it is like free punching bags for some people. I worked at the guest service desk at Target for many years, we expected a lot of people to walk in unhappy. Generally I was pretty good at meeting their needs. However the starting off yelling is just crappy, there isn't much you can do about it. If transferring them to the next person doesn't calm them down, well what can you do.

I didn't really expect your job to have these types of customers situations. Crappy, My latest is a parent who said she is going to the superintendent because her daughter didn't get to attend a choir competition,

[gimmethesimplelife]

Oh sweet jesus, “sociopathic law enforcement officers.”

This thread has nothing to do with that, but I understand that is the dominent thought in your life.

Carry on. If you must.IL, with all due respect, please forgive me for being a concerned citizen. I am spending a great deal of my non-work time focused on the recent police attack of an unarmed, complaint, innocent man in Mesa, Arizona, sort of in the grand scheme of things in my backyard but in reality about 20 miles away from me going East. This situation received national attention as did the video of the attack which shows the involved officers to truly be sociopaths. Rob

[Float On]

Just stick to the topic of the OP's post. Start a new thread for any rabbit trails.

I did work reception for a sport camp. The only stressful calls were where I couldn't come up with the name of "you know that little resort with the cabins? we want to stay there for parent weekend". Late '80s no internet available for resort cabin search... "Mam this entire region has over 300 resorts....with cabins...I have no way of knowing which resort with cabins you are talking about." "Well, it has a pool out front." "About half have a pool out front, some have a pool to the side, and some to the back". That would go all the way up my chain of supervisors and I'd be told to be more helpful.

Tradd...is that client more used to dealing with China or India in their shipping I wonder? Some cultures really go more direct with screaming/yelling from the get go. I have noticed some improvement when a call goes to a help desk in India now. #1 I can hear them better. #2 everytime I say something they must acknowledge it with "thank you for your comment, mam, I will assist you with your problem."

[Tradd]

Float On, these are Americans who are doing the screaming. Or at least folks who are living here.

[iris lilies]

IL, with all due respect, please forgive me for being a concerned citizen. I am spending a great deal of my non-work time focused on the recent police attack of an unarmed, complaint, innocent man in Mesa, Arizona, sort of in the grand scheme of things in my backyard but in reality about 20 miles away from me going East. This situation received national attention as did the video of the attack which shows the involved officers to truly be sociopaths. Rob

Let’s have the sociopathic cops shoot to kill Tradd’s annoying customers. Problem solved.

[mschrisgo2]

Iris Lilies, I don't appreciate your flippant remarks regarding killing people. I see such remarks as perpetuating the problems.

[gimmethesimplelife]

Iris Lilies, I don't appreciate your flippant remarks regarding killing people. I see such remarks as perpetuating the problems.Thank You, mschrisgo2. Rob

[gimmethesimplelife]

Going back to the original topic, something I can share is since I have mostly held customer facing jobs all the years I have worked - I can tell you that the thin veneer of civility so important to a given society functioning on a civil basis - Well it's getting thinner and thinner and thinner, with gaping holes in some places much like our atmosphere above the Earth.

What this means is more and more situations of the type that Tradd describes and that I face in my minor management role. Not fun, but what I tell everyone is to cover your soul in Teflon and let this society slide right on off of you.....can anyone come up with better or more realistic advice than this at this point in this society? Rob

[iris lilies]

Iris Lilies, I don't appreciate your flippant remarks regarding killing people. I see such remarks as perpetuating the problems.
Which problems? The ones caused by yelling customers or the ones caused by sociopathic cops?

Or perhaps other problems?

[mschrisgo2]

Which problems? The ones caused by yelling customers or the ones caused by sociopathic cops?

Or perhaps other problems?

All of it. The common denominator in most of society's problems is that people do not treat each other with kindness.

I just spent 32 years, my entire working career, teaching children: "At the end of the day, what really matters is how you treat each other. If you are kind, you can communicate; if you can communicate, you can solve the perceived problems."

So it is especially distressing to me to see otherwise intelligent, responsible adults using unkind comments and ineffective communication. Model that which you wish to see more of in the world.

[iris lilies]

All of it. The common denominator in most of society's problems is that people do not treat each other with kindness.

I just spent 32 years, my entire working career, teaching children: "At the end of the day, what really matters is how you treat each other. If you are kind, you can communicate; if you can communicate, you can solve the perceived problems."

So it is especially distressing to me to see otherwise intelligent, responsible adults using unkind comments and ineffective communication. Model that which you wish to see more of in the world.

ok, slapdown accepted. Mine was not even clever sarcasm, and I also
deduct points for that.

[JaneV2.0]

I think most of us are pretty raw with the world the way we see it these days. Time and circumstance have me spending lots of time alone, so I can filter out much that is unpleasant. A good thing, but I fear I'm becoming feral. We probably need each other more than ever--certainly the extroverts among us do--so maybe we'll coalesce with a new sense of community. Or maybe a natural disaster or war will do the trick.

Now where did I put that brandy?:help:

[Lainey]

I'm wondering what has caused the general public to remove the politeness filter (for lack of a better term) in dealing with service workers. I don't remember this being such a commonplace occurrence years ago.
Maybe it's the anonymity of yelling into a phone or knowing that a low-paid help desk person can't yell back (the customer is always right)? I'd actually like to see a few companies start blacklisting the most outrageous offenders and put their employees' mental health first.