Angela Harlem said:
I admire people who work in customer service roles and am in awe of those who actually enjoy it. If anyone looks down on them, it is because of the faceless general public who make their days bad by being rude and so on. Those who look down upon them are probably the very ones who make such an occupation so straining.
Watch your karma isn't running over any dogma.
You seem to assume the customer is always wrong. Sometimes they may be, but there are honestly some completely inept customer service people out there who make things very difficult. Some of them are so lame all they can do is say "that's just our policy" or keep repeating the same statement over and over and over again. If they were trained to do this to every question, they are uneccessary, as any recording box could do the same thing. I want to talk to someone who is actually paying attention to what I say, care what my concerns are, and try to answer back like a real person. Sometimes you don't get that.
Perhaps worst of all, I cannot count the times I've been cut off accidently by someone pushing the wrong button after I've been on hold for 15-20 minutes. When I call back, she only goes, sorry, but 'alll calls are answered in the order they are recieved' and my ass is back to start because of their mistake. If this were a rare occurance I could sympathize, but it happens at least 50% or more of all calls. Either that, or I am misakingly cut off while switching to another dept.
Then there are the ones who don't have a clue what I'm talking about, so I ask them to please transfer me to someone who does. I have honestly been transferred as many as 8, no kidding, 8 times, all to people who keep telling me I need to talk to x person, whom has already transferred me somwhere else! I get 'you need to talk to Rhonda' well, guess what, Rhonda was person #4 and she didn't know either. Then you get "well ma'am I just don't know what to tell you!"
Then you have one person who tells you one thing and you are counting on that (such as arrangements for a credit card payment) Then, you get listed as late anyway, and call back, and they deny anyone ever told me that! So, did they lie, were they stupid, or did they just neglect to record it in the records? With no backup, I'm fucked.
I am very tired of ineptitude and being taken in circles that go nowhere. If some people cannot competetantly perform their job, please hire someone else who can.
So while most workers are very nice and helpful, you cannot blame the customer for getting fed up over things like this. While it's true there may be some customers who are very rude and jump on people unfairly, I am not one of them.