The mention of grandparents suggests typical old-person stuff... either stairlifts or emergency alarms, maybe.link55307 said:
Aw, nuts.
Give some advice to customers
- Thread starter chinangel
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Old people huh. Computers? I say this because my dad still bashes the monitor to make it go faster.link55307 said:
Yes I know that doesn't make sense. Try telling him that.
Haha, fair enough. I shall remember that next time.
This one applies to most customer service transactions: as a customer, recognize that your interaction with a CSR does not occur within a vacuum. It is woven into the fabric of all surrounding customer service interactions. Your behavior impacts the experiences of not only your server but also other customers - and their behavior likewise impacts you.
For example, when I worked at a pizza delivery chain, customers frequently engaged in selfish/idiotic time-wasting. They called the store having no clue what they wanted to eat, where they were located, or how they planned to pay, clogging the phones. They took their sweet time answering the door or their own phones, sometimes clearly screening calls *right after ordering food*. They'd be at the store or down the block or taking the dog for a walk or still at the bar because "they didn't think you'd be so fast". They'd make you walk vast distances to relatively remote (from your car) locations because, hey, that's your job. Even people who didn't order the food rarely passed on the opportunity to oh-so-hilariously claim "that's for me jk derrrrr" - and you always believe them for a split second because that's precisely what your customer says minus the jk derrrrr.
When you think of your customer experience in a vacuum, all of these behaviors are obviously a-okay. They entertain or enable or alleviate for you, the customer. Who cares if the pizza guy has to wait a few extra minutes? Who cares if he's momentarily confused? Who cares if I want to talk on the phone for an extra minute?
I'll tell you who cares: the people waiting behind you. The other two phone lines on hold. The people waiting on the other two orders in my car. Your five minute delay didn't affect you, but it did affect them. And if one of them does the same? The third guy is suffering a ten minute delay. Now imagine I'd delivered all of that food in reverse and YOURS is the order delayed 10 minutes by other people making me wait. Does it still seem harmless?
If a CSR has a bad attitude or gives you shit for wasting time, he/she isn't doing it on their own behalf. They mostly get paid the same regardless. They are usually advocating for other customers waiting to be served - and your selfish behavior is fucking up THEIR experience.
For example, when I worked at a pizza delivery chain, customers frequently engaged in selfish/idiotic time-wasting. They called the store having no clue what they wanted to eat, where they were located, or how they planned to pay, clogging the phones. They took their sweet time answering the door or their own phones, sometimes clearly screening calls *right after ordering food*. They'd be at the store or down the block or taking the dog for a walk or still at the bar because "they didn't think you'd be so fast". They'd make you walk vast distances to relatively remote (from your car) locations because, hey, that's your job. Even people who didn't order the food rarely passed on the opportunity to oh-so-hilariously claim "that's for me jk derrrrr" - and you always believe them for a split second because that's precisely what your customer says minus the jk derrrrr.
When you think of your customer experience in a vacuum, all of these behaviors are obviously a-okay. They entertain or enable or alleviate for you, the customer. Who cares if the pizza guy has to wait a few extra minutes? Who cares if he's momentarily confused? Who cares if I want to talk on the phone for an extra minute?
I'll tell you who cares: the people waiting behind you. The other two phone lines on hold. The people waiting on the other two orders in my car. Your five minute delay didn't affect you, but it did affect them. And if one of them does the same? The third guy is suffering a ten minute delay. Now imagine I'd delivered all of that food in reverse and YOURS is the order delayed 10 minutes by other people making me wait. Does it still seem harmless?
If a CSR has a bad attitude or gives you shit for wasting time, he/she isn't doing it on their own behalf. They mostly get paid the same regardless. They are usually advocating for other customers waiting to be served - and your selfish behavior is fucking up THEIR experience.
My god, you precisely ninja'd me.link55307 said:
When I used to work phone and broadband tech support we'd get people calling who thought it was beneath them to powercycle a router. Remember one guy who called me a **** because I wouldn't send him a replacement until he tried a powercycle. He was stood next to it, could see the button, but didn't think he should have to press it twice.
Also, people buying iPads for grandparents, and then expecting them to connect it up without any help at all, then getting pissed off with us for not being able to magically do it on our end.
The worst though, were people that opened the call with "Yeah, I work in IT". Almost universally incompetent - would call claiming to be a network admin, and not know how to ping something or access a router config page.
Also, I'm gonna guess you do the same as me - phone and/or broadband support
As for a few of my own:
1. Don't get all sweary at me if you want the problem fixed. All I have to to is ask you not to swear, and then I'm encouraged by my company to cut you off if you do it again. (I generally didn't mind people swearing in the sense of "This phone line is shite", or "I'm fucking pissed off this isn't fixed", but when people actually get personally abusive, byebye).
2. We have to ask you for your name, phone number, address and so on before divulging information. I agree it's annoying and I'm sorry, but I'm professionally and personally liable if I don't do it (and I have to go through it 40 or 50 times a day)
3. There's a difference between being assertive and being aggressive. Getting shouty will just make me want to get you off the phone ASAP, which means the solution I give won't necessarily be the best for you.
If you desperately need internet or phone for something important, or can't do certain visit times, let me know calmly and I'll spend as long as needed to do the best I can.
My thoughts on this matter are relatively simple really.
If you treat me like a human being, then we'll get along fine. I'm happy to tell you where stuff is, try to answer your queries about products I know little about, tidy up after you and various other things that seem to bug other people. All I ask is that you look me in the face, say hello or something when you approach me, and thank me when you leave. Most other things I can deal with, I've even had to clean up piss and vomit, but when people are at least a little apologetic about such incidents, then I don't mind that much, after all, that is what bleach is for.
If you treat me like a human being, then we'll get along fine. I'm happy to tell you where stuff is, try to answer your queries about products I know little about, tidy up after you and various other things that seem to bug other people. All I ask is that you look me in the face, say hello or something when you approach me, and thank me when you leave. Most other things I can deal with, I've even had to clean up piss and vomit, but when people are at least a little apologetic about such incidents, then I don't mind that much, after all, that is what bleach is for.
I work at a grocery store.
If all registers are open and we have lines. Asking me to open another one is fucking impossible. So stop giving me a dirty look.
If there are no lines, stop asking for me to open another register.
If there are lines and a few registers open, I can assure you i'm not hiding cashiers up my butt just to make you wait in line.
Read the damn signs! The sign to the right says 3 for a dollar for Lemons, those peaches you picked up are not three for a dollar. Per pound means you pay by weight of the item not Quantity of said item. Because some Jack-hole moves a sign to an item it doesn't belong to DOES NOT magically change the price of it.
If you say "its the law, I and the store HAVE To"... whatever. I am 100% you have little to no fucking clue of what you are talking about. If a Gallon of Milk sign say 1.99 and it rings in at 3.99 (the current real price), then yes i do have to give it to you at 1.99. BUT if the gallon of Milk has an Orange Juice sign at 1.99 in front of it and the milk sign of 3.99 IS out there... no i don't.
Do not put produce all in one bag and say "They are all the same price". One, apples may 90% be the same price but I do have to weigh the types of apples (and all other produce)separate for electronic inventory.
Store policies are store policies. You don't like write the company a letter. I don't get paid enough to get in trouble cause you don't want to follow them.
PLEASE for the love of Whatever! CHECK your fucking balance for however you are paying BEFORE you enter the store. Bring up a $300 order and assuming you have the money, when you don't. Makes me want to rip out your eyes.
DO THE MATH! As you shop... add it up. Telling a cashier you only have 50 bucks and yet bring up a FULL cart (usual value at my store between $300-$400 or more)... you'll hold up the line as you pick and choose what to keep, then WE have to put it away.
We are NOT here to shop for you. Example: Bring up one item the ask the cashier to go and find other items.Thats right GO AND FIND and bring back items. As they stand in line holding it up.
Blocking a register with your cart as you find a "couple" more items. I will shove it out of the way so the line can keep moving. That isn't your spot in line if your not there. Putting your stuff down, and walking away without telling anyone Will result in your stuff getting put away.
I got millions more... blah. But, it is time for work today. -_-
If all registers are open and we have lines. Asking me to open another one is fucking impossible. So stop giving me a dirty look.
If there are no lines, stop asking for me to open another register.
If there are lines and a few registers open, I can assure you i'm not hiding cashiers up my butt just to make you wait in line.
Read the damn signs! The sign to the right says 3 for a dollar for Lemons, those peaches you picked up are not three for a dollar. Per pound means you pay by weight of the item not Quantity of said item. Because some Jack-hole moves a sign to an item it doesn't belong to DOES NOT magically change the price of it.
If you say "its the law, I and the store HAVE To"... whatever. I am 100% you have little to no fucking clue of what you are talking about. If a Gallon of Milk sign say 1.99 and it rings in at 3.99 (the current real price), then yes i do have to give it to you at 1.99. BUT if the gallon of Milk has an Orange Juice sign at 1.99 in front of it and the milk sign of 3.99 IS out there... no i don't.
Do not put produce all in one bag and say "They are all the same price". One, apples may 90% be the same price but I do have to weigh the types of apples (and all other produce)separate for electronic inventory.
Store policies are store policies. You don't like write the company a letter. I don't get paid enough to get in trouble cause you don't want to follow them.
PLEASE for the love of Whatever! CHECK your fucking balance for however you are paying BEFORE you enter the store. Bring up a $300 order and assuming you have the money, when you don't. Makes me want to rip out your eyes.
DO THE MATH! As you shop... add it up. Telling a cashier you only have 50 bucks and yet bring up a FULL cart (usual value at my store between $300-$400 or more)... you'll hold up the line as you pick and choose what to keep, then WE have to put it away.
We are NOT here to shop for you. Example: Bring up one item the ask the cashier to go and find other items.Thats right GO AND FIND and bring back items. As they stand in line holding it up.
Blocking a register with your cart as you find a "couple" more items. I will shove it out of the way so the line can keep moving. That isn't your spot in line if your not there. Putting your stuff down, and walking away without telling anyone Will result in your stuff getting put away.
I got millions more... blah. But, it is time for work today. -_-
I came to this thread to say the same thing, mate.Thyunda said:
Some people seem to feel like they are the centre of the cosmos, and when someone in service is not operating on the levels of, say, Supermanghandi, they completly loose their shit!
Hated it when I worked in a supermarket, loved it when I worked in an Italian restaurant.
You see, the boss was much more intimidating then the customer...
Our labels are all stuck to the shelves, so we don't have the shuffling problem some of the other guys have- and we do honor prices on mis-shelved items.Dirty Hipsters said:
Having said that, you'd be surprised at how many people start going on about false advertising/bait and switch/this is illegal and you're horrible people... all before I can even call someone to see if there's an error. It's not false advertising, it's a busy stocker who made a mistake and stuck an item between two price tags. If you start yelling at us from the get-go, don't be surprised if we decided the item was close enough to its proper home that you should have seen the correct price.
On that note, if you see a price that too good to be true, consider asking about that first- if you take all the items, and they were misplaced, we now have no way to verify your claim. We try to be fair, but I can't guarantee we'll honor your price. If an employee sees it before you move everything, they can vouch for you, and all will be well.
I work in a fast-food place and so not only do people get real angry at long queues, they're also convinced that because most of us are 21 or under, we're all idiots and the only way to get through to us is to swear, threaten and throw things. I've had customers ask for me specifically so they can square up to me over why I've moved unattended belongings to lost property.ShipofFools said:
It doesn't work on me. I used to work with homeless addicts who were genuinely frightening. You and your pink shorts do not scare me, my friend.
Back when I had a temp position in a Department Store:
1) Please don't ask me. I have no fucking clue.
2) Stop dragging the shopping carts up the escalator. We have an elevator for a reason, and there's plenty of signs telling you not to.
3) Please stop ripping open the packages of little kid's socks and underwear, taking one pair, then leaving the torn open package on the ground. I have to clean that up, stop!
4) If you're stealing underwear by replacing your old ones, take your old ones with you! We have to treat that stuff like haz-mat.
5) Please stop stealing the clothing off the Barbie's in the toy department. It's fucking creepy, and people are starting to whisper.
6) LEARN HOW TO FOLD YOUR OWN CLOTHES! The common retail fold for shirts is 3 by 2, or 3 by 3 if it long. It's not that hard.
7) Please stop taking clothing out of the Women's department and putting it in the Boy's. You're not funny, you're not clever. You're annoying, and making a lot more work for me.
8) If you don't see it, we probably don't have it. I don't care what it says on the website or the catalog. You probably shouldn't have waited until the day before Christmas to go shopping for gloves and robes.
1) Please don't ask me. I have no fucking clue.
2) Stop dragging the shopping carts up the escalator. We have an elevator for a reason, and there's plenty of signs telling you not to.
3) Please stop ripping open the packages of little kid's socks and underwear, taking one pair, then leaving the torn open package on the ground. I have to clean that up, stop!
4) If you're stealing underwear by replacing your old ones, take your old ones with you! We have to treat that stuff like haz-mat.
5) Please stop stealing the clothing off the Barbie's in the toy department. It's fucking creepy, and people are starting to whisper.
6) LEARN HOW TO FOLD YOUR OWN CLOTHES! The common retail fold for shirts is 3 by 2, or 3 by 3 if it long. It's not that hard.
7) Please stop taking clothing out of the Women's department and putting it in the Boy's. You're not funny, you're not clever. You're annoying, and making a lot more work for me.
8) If you don't see it, we probably don't have it. I don't care what it says on the website or the catalog. You probably shouldn't have waited until the day before Christmas to go shopping for gloves and robes.
Here are a few tips for when you're shopping in the Dairy/Frozen department.
Doors
1. STOP SLAMMING THE GODDAMN DOORS! Close them with your hand on the handle, do not let it swing shut all on it's own and don't shove it closed.
1a. Do not let your children play with the doors (i.e. going down the entire milk/juice wall opening and closing every door in the process. And don't play with the doors yourself.
1b. Do not press your face up against the glass, do not put your hands on the glass and do not let your children touch the glass. Somebody has to clean those things and it's a pain in the ass.
Milk
2. Milk is milk. grab a jug and get the fuck out of my department, don't stand there for five minutes while you read the labels and dates for every single jug on the rack.
2a. Over 98% of the time the dates at the front of the rack are the same as the dates at the back, you do not need to dig through the milk or reach over to grab milk toward the back.
2b. If you decide to put back a jug of milk, put it back where it goes and facing the right direction. Do not put a half gallon of skim milk where the gallons of whole milk go or put a %2 gallon where the %1 quarts go.
Doors
1. STOP SLAMMING THE GODDAMN DOORS! Close them with your hand on the handle, do not let it swing shut all on it's own and don't shove it closed.
1a. Do not let your children play with the doors (i.e. going down the entire milk/juice wall opening and closing every door in the process. And don't play with the doors yourself.
1b. Do not press your face up against the glass, do not put your hands on the glass and do not let your children touch the glass. Somebody has to clean those things and it's a pain in the ass.
Milk
2. Milk is milk. grab a jug and get the fuck out of my department, don't stand there for five minutes while you read the labels and dates for every single jug on the rack.
2a. Over 98% of the time the dates at the front of the rack are the same as the dates at the back, you do not need to dig through the milk or reach over to grab milk toward the back.
2b. If you decide to put back a jug of milk, put it back where it goes and facing the right direction. Do not put a half gallon of skim milk where the gallons of whole milk go or put a %2 gallon where the %1 quarts go.
Tips for phoning customer service.
1. Have everything you need to hand BEFORE you phone. Account numbers, letters, receipts, whatever, make sure it's there when you phone. Don't say "oh I'll need to go dig that out" when you're asked for something if it's something you should have for every call (you wouldn't believe the amount of people who've ran off to find out their own address). And if it's going to take more than a few minutes to find, apologise to the serf who's time you've wasted and hang up. Call again when you have everything. Think of the waiting times as karma paying you back for being a timewaster
2. We need to do those security checks. It's the law. Yes, it's a hassle, and no, complaining about it won't do anything except waste time. On a related note, I don't care if you're a fucking parent phoning about your child's account, unless that child is underage we need to speak to THE ACCOUNT HOLDER. They can give you permission to speak on their behalf, but unless they've set it up in the past, or are sitting in the room to give that permission, then we can't do anything. It's basic common sense, would YOU want your mother phoning up and checking up on sensitive financial information?
3. Don't start parroting off your query or your account information without prompting. Wait until we ask. We've got a script to follow, and more importantly the computer will only take information in a particular order. I can't help with your problem if I don't know who you are.
4. Please, please, PLEASE try to keep the call as short as possible. There's a reason why the rest of the points are all about time. We get shouted at if our average handling time is greater than whatever arbitrary number Management chose. Those few minutes of idle banter you chose to engage in after the problem was solved can literally cost someone a job, if their manager is enough of a ****. Seriously, the best thing I ever heard when on the phone was someone hanging up as soon as they got through to me. Dropped my AHT by two minutes.
But the most important one of all is: it's not my fault that a colleague screwed up/the system is broken/you didn't pay the bill. Stop shouting at me as if it is. As soon as you start getting aggressive, I stop caring. I've spent twenty minutes in a call once, trying to find loopholes and workarounds for a customer, fuck the AHT. Why? Because that customer was nice, and needed help. And I wanted to help them. The people who go in guns blazing, they can go fuck themselves.
1. Have everything you need to hand BEFORE you phone. Account numbers, letters, receipts, whatever, make sure it's there when you phone. Don't say "oh I'll need to go dig that out" when you're asked for something if it's something you should have for every call (you wouldn't believe the amount of people who've ran off to find out their own address). And if it's going to take more than a few minutes to find, apologise to the serf who's time you've wasted and hang up. Call again when you have everything. Think of the waiting times as karma paying you back for being a timewaster
2. We need to do those security checks. It's the law. Yes, it's a hassle, and no, complaining about it won't do anything except waste time. On a related note, I don't care if you're a fucking parent phoning about your child's account, unless that child is underage we need to speak to THE ACCOUNT HOLDER. They can give you permission to speak on their behalf, but unless they've set it up in the past, or are sitting in the room to give that permission, then we can't do anything. It's basic common sense, would YOU want your mother phoning up and checking up on sensitive financial information?
3. Don't start parroting off your query or your account information without prompting. Wait until we ask. We've got a script to follow, and more importantly the computer will only take information in a particular order. I can't help with your problem if I don't know who you are.
4. Please, please, PLEASE try to keep the call as short as possible. There's a reason why the rest of the points are all about time. We get shouted at if our average handling time is greater than whatever arbitrary number Management chose. Those few minutes of idle banter you chose to engage in after the problem was solved can literally cost someone a job, if their manager is enough of a ****. Seriously, the best thing I ever heard when on the phone was someone hanging up as soon as they got through to me. Dropped my AHT by two minutes.
But the most important one of all is: it's not my fault that a colleague screwed up/the system is broken/you didn't pay the bill. Stop shouting at me as if it is. As soon as you start getting aggressive, I stop caring. I've spent twenty minutes in a call once, trying to find loopholes and workarounds for a customer, fuck the AHT. Why? Because that customer was nice, and needed help. And I wanted to help them. The people who go in guns blazing, they can go fuck themselves.
Car insurance:
- Shop around. Even if you really want to stick with your existing insurer, browse around for any cheaper quotes, bring these to your insurer's attention (typically at renewal) and see if they can offer anything in response
- If it's an ongoing query then give me a little time to get up to speed with what other colleagues have done previously.
- Be patient and polite and I'll go out of my way to make life easier for you. Act angry; then don't be surprised if I get flustered and it takes even longer.
- You know choosing to pay by monthly Direct Debit is making your insurance ~20% more expensive, right?
- See a car you're interested in? Give us a call with the details before you purchase to check if we'll even insure you on that vehicle, never mind what it'll do your premium.
- We're targeted on the length of our calls (shorter the better) so we're not making them longer on purpose, trust me - but often there are lengthy legal scripts that we must read or face losing our jobs.
- The policyholder is (the only) God when it comes to their policy. I don't care if you're their mother, brother, sister, whoever - unless the policyholder verbally tells me it's ok, I can't let you anywhere near their policy.
- Never assume, always check with us if you're unsure. That's what we're here for.
- Tip for those in the UK: Get the AA to do a check on any car you're seriously considering buying. They'll check it, give you a report, and if any work needs doing you can haggle with the owner to get the repairs done before you buy.
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- Shop around. Even if you really want to stick with your existing insurer, browse around for any cheaper quotes, bring these to your insurer's attention (typically at renewal) and see if they can offer anything in response
- If it's an ongoing query then give me a little time to get up to speed with what other colleagues have done previously.
- Be patient and polite and I'll go out of my way to make life easier for you. Act angry; then don't be surprised if I get flustered and it takes even longer.
- You know choosing to pay by monthly Direct Debit is making your insurance ~20% more expensive, right?
- See a car you're interested in? Give us a call with the details before you purchase to check if we'll even insure you on that vehicle, never mind what it'll do your premium.
- We're targeted on the length of our calls (shorter the better) so we're not making them longer on purpose, trust me - but often there are lengthy legal scripts that we must read or face losing our jobs.
- The policyholder is (the only) God when it comes to their policy. I don't care if you're their mother, brother, sister, whoever - unless the policyholder verbally tells me it's ok, I can't let you anywhere near their policy.
- Never assume, always check with us if you're unsure. That's what we're here for.
- Tip for those in the UK: Get the AA to do a check on any car you're seriously considering buying. They'll check it, give you a report, and if any work needs doing you can haggle with the owner to get the repairs done before you buy.
Zoomy said:
I wish I knew. And saddest of all, that's not the worst example. Once, I had these two Jamaican ladies (while we're on the subject) that came in and just started picking everything off the racks that they could get their hands on. Women's clothes, men's clothes, didn't matter, just whatever was in arm's reach. And then they would throw the hangers straight onto the ground.RaikuFA said:
When I politely asked them to stop, they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about... and then kept fucking doing it. Took me forever to pick all of them up. They stole the clothes, as I later came to find out. Had our LP guy mad as hell.
Customers are terrible.
Dear would be consumer,
Learn to Google. In some cases, Google will solve 99% of your problems. Note the wording as when you come to me, half the fucking problems you come to me for can easily be fixed that way.
Oh, and please don't insult me. I may just snap and format your computer or do some other thing as my revenge, such as activate Group Policy and lock you out of your own computer. I do my best to explain, so excuse me if I'm pissed that you are rude and disrespectful.
Sincerely from a disgruntled computer fixer,
Silent
Learn to Google. In some cases, Google will solve 99% of your problems. Note the wording as when you come to me, half the fucking problems you come to me for can easily be fixed that way.
Oh, and please don't insult me. I may just snap and format your computer or do some other thing as my revenge, such as activate Group Policy and lock you out of your own computer. I do my best to explain, so excuse me if I'm pissed that you are rude and disrespectful.
Sincerely from a disgruntled computer fixer,
Silent
My field is engineering, but this one would apply to any kind of commissioned work, from art to architecture.
Be clear about what you want right from the beginning. The longer you wait to clarify what you actually meant, the more of our time and resources gets wasted. Our worst customers in this respect tend to be our own management, we can't give them the metaphorical finger and market the product to someone else when they keep jerking us around.
Be clear about what you want right from the beginning. The longer you wait to clarify what you actually meant, the more of our time and resources gets wasted. Our worst customers in this respect tend to be our own management, we can't give them the metaphorical finger and market the product to someone else when they keep jerking us around.