Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Representatives Are People, Too

I make a lot of calls to the Customer Service department of different companies.  I have never been treated badly by someone who was trying to help me out, so why should I treat them badly? 
On rep was actually speechless when I told her to have a great day after we had taken care of the issue at hand.  She actually stammered and said. "Thanks, I don't get that very often."  After that experience I was more determined to make sure I tell every rep I talk with  "Thank you for your help, have a great day."
They are people like us and have feelings as well. It really makes me wonder why reps get treated so badly when they are trying to help.  Not everything is their fault.
I had a real eye-opener to the rudeness they have to endure a little while back.  A friend of my husbands was over and had an issue with his cell phone.  He called the local office and just ripped into the poor unsuspecting rep that answered the phone.  The rep apologized for something that wasn't even his fault and did his best to resolve the issue, but to no avail.  The friend just went on and on.  The nicer the rep was, the madder this friend got. 
I was horrified!  I have never seen anyone get treated so badly.  This friend has gone his way, and I can't say I am particularly sad about it.  
Be nice to reps, most of them are here to help.  They get a lot of crap and could use some encouragement.

6 comments:

  1. I think we tend to place our animosity of the company with the poor employees that work at the company. I know Comcast employees are fearful to admit they work there where I live.

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    1. I agree with this, but after having worked in a restaurant I now realize that the truly effective way to complain is to talk to the person as high up as you can, because they will not want to have to deal with it and will fix the problem immediately.

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  2. It always disgusts me to see people treated so horribly. I don't know for sure why people feel the need to take it out on the rep, though there are probably several reasons.

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  3. Hi Arvi! Welcome to PWG!
    I feel we should ALWAYS treat others with respect...regardless of the situation. I agree with Drew too. If there is an issue, take it up with the manager...don't harass the hired help! The higher ups get paid to deal with such things!

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  4. Unfortunately there are lots of people who are downright rude. So, no matter what diplomacy is used, they will akways find ways to be angry or to put the blame on others

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  5. Having spent some time working as a customer service rep, I work for Sear Home Central in a windowless call center in college, I can attest to how rarely they get thanked. Yelling at them rarely does any good, because they usually have little power, have little to no training on the products or services you are calling about. In my case our calls were randomly listened to and if we went off script too often we could get fired. Even if we knew how to solve a problem we had to follow the script. I agree with Drew if you really want a problem solved, go as high up as you can.

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