Customer Service Kudos
Customer Service Officers are unsung heroes of many organisations, large and small.
Being a Supervisor for my company's Information Technology Helpdesk, I know how my staff are sometimes verbally abused for faults and problems that are just part and parcel of high-technology. If something malfunctions, callers would insist that it be fixed immediately, as though we were bored out of our minds and decided to take down the system just for fun.
People forget that it takes time to troubleshoot and fix problems. Has anyone who was ill gone to see a doctor and insisted on being cured immediately? I digress.
Last Saturday, as a result of losing her phone, my wife and I headed down to our mobile service provider to shop for a new phone. While she was browsing for a suitable replacement for her lost Treo 650, I was observing people, as I often do. No, not oogling - just observing.
While at the counter waiting for a representative to check on the availibility of a phone my wife had picked out (ok ok, I convinced her to buy!), a Customer Service Officer was busy greeting people, asking them how she could help and taking an appropriate queue number for them if she couldn't. Here's one conversation that irked me.
Customer Service Officer : Good afternoon sir, how may I help you today?
Male Customer (irritated) : Its a long story! Can you help me? If you can, I'll tell you the whole story. If you can't, I'm not going to waste my time. Just give me a queue number and let me speak to someone who can actually help.
Customer Service Officer (crestfallen) : Here's a queue number, sir.
I fumed at the attitude the CSO had to deal with. Then came this lady....
Customer Service Officer : Good afternoon ma'am, how may I help you today?
Lady Customer (in one breath) : I have a Blackberry but my Blackberry doesn't work now. I have taken my Blackberry to the Blackberry service centre but the people at Blackberry said that they could repair my Blackberry. So, I have come to buy a new Blackberry.
Customer Service Officer (with a straight face) : Here's a queue number, ma'am.
Premster : *giggling*
I know for a fact that I could never do the job of a Customer Service Officer based on my lousy temper and my practically non-existent tolerance for nonsense.
So, to all the people who have to go to their Customer Service jobs daily and have to deal with such people, I take my hat off to you.
2 comments:
indeed :)
my brother used to work at the customer service call center for "rogers" the biggest cell phone provider in Canada...and every night he would come home with many "interesting" stories of the ppl who call in...some would yell and scream why their bill is too high...
my bro :well ma'am you used your cell phone for overseas calls...
lady: well smart boy I signed for an unlimited evenings and weekends plan..so that means I dont get charged for calls I make during that time
my bro: thats right ma'am, BUT thats only for local calls
lady: I dont care ..do someting...I wanna talk to the manager
LOL and many more
but sometimes he comes back all angry and fussy cuz of all the negativity that he has to deal with
hi ghasheema,
your brother will surely appreciate (and sympathise) with me for what my team and i have to ensure with.
latest as of this evening :
caller : i have entered my user ID into the window and it is now prompting me for a password.
me : please enter your password, ma'am.
caller : what is my password?
me : it is the same password you use to login everyday. we do not know your password, ma'am. if we did, your account will not be secure.
caller : aren't you the system people? you should know how to trace my password!
me : *sigh*
wishing everyone at home, especially your little ones, a good weekend.
oh, and happy father's day to your hubby too! :)
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