Comment on Living a lie
shalafi@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I never used that bullshit voice, simply talked to customers as I would a stranger a friend referred to me for help. Guess what? Hardly ever got disrespected, let alone chewed out.
“There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.”
“It’s a lot more complicated than that–”
“No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.”
“Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes–”
“But they starts with thinking about people as things…”
–from Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett.
tl;dr: Treat people as people and not “customers”. Be amazed.
It’s always a shock to me when I interact with someone providing customer service that is t using a customer service voice.
I was checking into a hotel (a large chain too) a while back and the person checking me in was having some trouble. She goes “sorry, this system is just retarded some times.”
I actually laughed out loud because it caught me so off guard.
That’s how I talk! Maybe not those words, but yeah, I talk to them like a friend-of-a-friend who called for help. I SO love getting someone like that on the phone. When I realize I’m talking to a human that gives two fucks, my attitude lines right up, even if I started mad. Amazing how people react when treated like people.
Lemmy: I’m autistic and need a 254-page manual as to how to smile correctly.
No, you’re not autistic, you were robbed of human social interaction by schools and society. There’s nothing wrong with your brain, you’re not special, you’re a victim (sorta, get over it), STFU.
And the next waiter or waitress that says, “Absolutely sir!”, gets punched. These people have an instruction book that mandates “absolutely”?! I humbly ask for some salt. “YES SIR ABSOLUTELY SIR WOULD YOU LIKE A BLOWJOB SIR?” “Just some salt would be nice enough. Thank you.”
Always wondered why some of the CSRs at the call center would get chewed out more than others despite being polite and respectful and I think you just made me understand that it was because they sounded false. They had a very obvious “customer service” voice. The ones who didn’t tended to just sound like normal folk having a good day. (That’s the secret sauce, they usually weren’t having a good day, but they sounded like they were in on some joke with you, that joke being ‘ahh talking to people, am I right?’)
A rep comes at me with that voice and I know damned well they aren’t listening to me, don’t give a fuck about what I called about.
Caesium@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Damn if only customers treated me as a person
dis_honestfamiliar@lemmy.sdf.org 4 days ago
and I’ll add: Damn if only my performance wasn’t tied to customer’s rating, aka 5 stars rating.
shalafi@lemmy.world 4 days ago
So, treating customers as faceless idiots working out for you? Maybe treat them like people who need your aid? Is kissing ass the only way you know to interact with strangers whose approval you require?
dis_honestfamiliar@lemmy.sdf.org 4 days ago
Treating them like regular people didn’t score 5 stars customer feedback. Kissing ass was what worked more consistently.
shalafi@lemmy.world 4 days ago
You have utterly failed to understand the assignment. You could not have wrote a worse response if you fed it through AI.
“Customers don’t treat me like a person. 😢”
That’s because they don’t see you as a person, because you don’t treat them like a person. Know what? This conversation is hopeless. You do you.
Caesium@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Idk I start out all my interactions with a positive neutral perspective and because I tell a customer I can’t take a return because the website says so I guess that means its 100% in their right to yell and berate me.
I genuinely have decent interactions most of the time because I DO treat people well, but I certainly don’t get the same respect back.
shalafi@lemmy.world 4 days ago
How about this? HANG UP THE FUCKING PHONE. Heard my wife do this today. You get one chance to be an ass, then fuck you. “But MY job, bla, bla, bla.” She works for the largest company of it’s kind. She hangs up.
And BTW, English is her second language, so imagine the racism and abuse people start with. Yet she’s rocking out and next in line for a promotion. Yet native English speakers get their ass kicked. One must wonder what is happening. Must be the customers, couldn’t be the rep.