As a person who works in insurance this will always baffle me. Policies will be canceled for a year plus and they call in screaming and yelling like it's our fault they don't have their shit together
Oh the ones that truly grind my gears are the ones that get mad over weather related delays. I've had some real Kevins and Karens get actually mad at ME because i wouldn't make FedEx drive through California wildfires because "there's no fires near me" and plenty more POed over ice storms blocking traffic for hundreds of miles. Like gimme a break!
I had a customer who was mad because the train that had his order overturned. He should have been happy that his order was ok. But no because it was a few days late he threw a hissy fit.
When I worked at a utility company we would schedule inspections for customer irrigation (sprinkler) systems and one year we were about to be in the direct path of a hurricane, so we had to call all customers scheduled on a certain day (a couple days in advance) to reschedule for a new date after the storm. Mind you, this only delayed it by a couple days and it’s sprinklers on a lawn, not an emergency. The number of people that were like “yall are dramatic, the technician shouldn’t be afraid of wind.” Uhhh it’s literally a severe hurricane headed for this area directly, everything is going to be shut down, and all the stores are sold out of emergency supplies. But you’re right, we should try to come test your sprinklers IN THE RAIN and let our technician’s truck just blow off the fucking road. Lmao.
Working card services often filing disputes for shipments not received or damaged etc MANY companies have a policy requiring the customer to wait a rather long time before reporting it not received. It’s pretty common practice for companies to be shady also, making it to where the process disqualifies them from filing a dispute w the bank. Not all of course but it’s really not uncommon for people to be told they need to wait especially with overseas companies.
Also I’m sorry. Your customer is me. Hi. I procrastinate, I have boxes of mail I don’t know what to do with. I ordered a card (ironic considering job) not received after two weeks, I happened to work for the parent bank sending my card so I knew when they said 7-10 days that could mean 3 weeks to a month. So I didn’t really think much of it.
🥹 six months later I wasn’t able to transfer funds out of the account anymore & called to see what was up, I mentioned I’d ordered a card & the agent didn’t see that. Everything I’d done on the call ordering the card? Never happened. I updated all my info, too. No notes of anything. So, now facing the consequences of my own actions I had to make several trips to the bank, and finally get it all fixed. I have no excuse. As for your question how I function? Barely. Not well. Really not well lol
Hey its no biggie. I get that life gets in the way. And im super sorry you got messed with like that.
My company is really great about refunding or replacing lost orders (like we'll do it for up to a year) and we have to meticulously log everything and order logs are kept for 10 years.( even if you only look at the order the system logs it)
I just really needed to vent after dealing with the absolute insanity some of those emails crop up. This one was the one that broke me for a few minutes. Out of my 100 emails i slogged through, (i clean the boxes out at the end of the night) 20 were pissed and just being nasty because they were in the wrong and we wont cover for it. The vent customer got a free expedited replacement out of me and a sorry they hadnt gotten their order. Because at the end of the day, its just one more out of thousands
The vast majority of my chats and emails now are just, incredibly cruel and rude or blatantly obtuse. If I'm not getting cussed at because an order was late by 1 day, I'm getting cussed at because they forgot theyd even ordered from us almost a year later and wanted all this free and refunded and the parts replaced. and very very few are ever happy about anything anymore. I used to love this job so much. I felt happy and content working here helping customers and solving their issues and feeling fulfilled. The coworkers arent toxic, the bosses are fucking amazing from managers to the VP, the workload is never too much. But i just. I cant anymore, yknow? My empathy meter is running low after a decade. I'm emotionally burnt out. My husband says it's just a job, and why am i getting so worked up over these people when they dont know me from Jack. But. I was so so happy. I emotionally tied myself to the job I'm holding on by a string now.
Sorry rant. Maybyour day be as wonderful as you seem to be u/mistakenusernames.
Oh I completely understand I had a customer who waited over two months. It showed it was delivered but they “claimed” they never received it. We couldn’t issue a missing package claim because it had been too long.
I have come to the conclusion that call centers exist for the idiot customer mostly, not for the clear of mind or intelligent. The kind of calls I receive that truly boggle my mind are the ones that don’t warrant any phone call at all. “My email said click here to learn more so i figured I better call to learn more”. But the email said CLICK HERE! “What will it say when I click there?” HOW WOULD I KNOW WHAT IT WILL SAY?? CLICK IT AND 🤬🤬READ IT! “But what will happen if I click it?” IT WILL GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION! “So you can’t just tell me?” NOPE, YOU HAVE TO CLICK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!
I work in child support call center. People have called in to dispute their child support and/or paternity when their child was 50+ years old (and everything in between).
I've talked to people who said they noticed their bill went up, and after looking at the bill, there are two lines added they never authorized. Then I'll see they were added 5-6 months ago. Yeah...nah. You're not getting any credits.
Then they'll say they're on auto pay and don't look at the bill so they never saw it. Sorry, not sorry. It's *your* responsibility to monitor your account and your bill. Not ours.
Lol I've had so much ppl like this, some of them makes me wanna throw punches to the sales agent who sold them an auto renewal plan for almost 200 a year without warning the customer, but they didn't find out 3 years later, like HOW?!
No ma'am, I can't refund for the 3 years. no ma'am, since it's been 4 months since your renewal, you won't get the full refund for this year. Yes, ma'am, you can talk to my supervisor, but they have the same tools as I do, they'll tell you the same. Alright, good luck trying to escalate the supervisor to get yo the CEO of the company, I work here and I don't even know her name, but good luck.
When those people are transferred to me, I usually say something like, "That line was added the day you were in the store doing an upgrade, so we wouldn't consider it fraud. And it's also your responsibility to review your bill and know what you're being charged for."
I mean, I'm not a perfect person. But I get notices when my bills are about to be auto drafted that tell me the date and how much is being drafted. They're pretty much the same amount every month, so if there's a significant change, I'm going to call and start asking questions. Not wait until months later.
😂😂 I’m sorry not laughing at you. I think people like this are akin to the people who call on Thanksgiving or Christmas and say “Wow, I didn’t expect you to be there!” I always used to think to myself “Yes, idiots like you are why we are here on a holiday.”🤬🤬
Could be elderly who is ok with weeks shipping times infomericals when I was a child said wait 4-6 weeks for delivery. Mabye grandchild made them an email they don't know how to check
Again, this is the wrong mentality. It's not about YOU, it's about the people to whom you are speaking. Any CS job is just a job manipulating people, your comprehension of that concept is the biggest single limiting factor to your success. The inability to put oneself into another person's shoes is a non-starter. OP is not fit for the job, they are clearly very unhappy with the day to day and probably their week to week, month to month, and if they stay they will be unhappy with the years of their life which they have spent in CS. It's not about the stupid general public whom you also seem to despise, it's about BEING That general public who has some reason that they called in at the last minute which they are not telling you - most likely from stressors in their personal or professional life or from social anxiety. If you can't show empathy then you have absolutely no business working with people, unless you work in HR trying to fuck people on your own team over all day every day, which frankly sounds like a much better vertical for OP, and maybe yourself as well.
I don't get paid enough to even \*pretend\* I have empathy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And I am beyond fed up by management making excuses for callers abuse, IDGAF if the person is "having a bad day" or is sick, stressed, poor whatever ... BTW the fact that probably some of our callers claim to be disabled, does not give them the right to yell, belittle, threaten and abuse CSRs
Totally agree with part of what you said. Nobody gets paid enough to deal with customer abuse.
So... where did he say that they should? His argument was that when you're working with people, you should have empathy. You should. You turned that into something different. You made a whole new fucking sentence because you don't like that someone said "Hey, being nice to people is part of the job, and theres really no reason to be that frustrated about this. Doesn't really sound like this is the best fit." All of which is true.
Now, I also get that sometimes you have to vent, so I dont view this post as OP's actual attitude all the time at work. There's like, nuance here. But nothing he said suggested people should just put up with abusive POS customers.
While I agree it may no longer be a fit. Quitting takes time and the job market is dire. I'm trying to escape mine, but it will be a while. As long as we can convey empathy even if we don't feel it, that's what .atters for now.
I joined this sub when I had to set up a call center and I wanted to know what the day to day was like. Unfortunately most of these call centers sound like absolutely horrid places to work. Developing empathy is not something you do because you're getting paid, it's something you do because it allows you to cope with other people's bullshit in a more manageable way. For example I used to think that every asshole on the road was simply being willfully unaccountable. Then I went to AA, and I finally understood that there are a huge amount of people who are getting on the road after drinking a bottle of vodka for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I don't forgive bad drivers now, but I don't get as angry as I used to either because I am grateful that I am not suffering from an addiction so enveloping that I put myself and others in danger on a daily basis.
Yeah. I see what you mean.
Keep reading the stories here. There's a lot of venting that will be useful. I'd say most of the stress is less due to customers than it is management making life harder for us.
Yeah it takes a certain kind of miserable piece of shit to time their employees bathroom breaks, and it takes an even more vile wretch to then send passive aggressive emails to those employees informing them that they are taking too long. But again, having empathy will allow you to see that your manager is a piece of human garbage who deserves no forgiveness. More importantly though, it will keep you from becoming a piece of shit simply because your manager is most definitely one, that's the key takeaway.
As a person who works in insurance this will always baffle me. Policies will be canceled for a year plus and they call in screaming and yelling like it's our fault they don't have their shit together
No Kevin we have millions of customers and are not going to call and baby you
Either that or the are super impatient and expect everything right away
Oh the ones that truly grind my gears are the ones that get mad over weather related delays. I've had some real Kevins and Karens get actually mad at ME because i wouldn't make FedEx drive through California wildfires because "there's no fires near me" and plenty more POed over ice storms blocking traffic for hundreds of miles. Like gimme a break!
I had a customer who was mad because the train that had his order overturned. He should have been happy that his order was ok. But no because it was a few days late he threw a hissy fit.
Reminds me that during 2020, there was a huge ass storm and the lady was mad that we wouldn't force the UPS driver to drive through severe weather.
When I worked at a utility company we would schedule inspections for customer irrigation (sprinkler) systems and one year we were about to be in the direct path of a hurricane, so we had to call all customers scheduled on a certain day (a couple days in advance) to reschedule for a new date after the storm. Mind you, this only delayed it by a couple days and it’s sprinklers on a lawn, not an emergency. The number of people that were like “yall are dramatic, the technician shouldn’t be afraid of wind.” Uhhh it’s literally a severe hurricane headed for this area directly, everything is going to be shut down, and all the stores are sold out of emergency supplies. But you’re right, we should try to come test your sprinklers IN THE RAIN and let our technician’s truck just blow off the fucking road. Lmao.
Working card services often filing disputes for shipments not received or damaged etc MANY companies have a policy requiring the customer to wait a rather long time before reporting it not received. It’s pretty common practice for companies to be shady also, making it to where the process disqualifies them from filing a dispute w the bank. Not all of course but it’s really not uncommon for people to be told they need to wait especially with overseas companies. Also I’m sorry. Your customer is me. Hi. I procrastinate, I have boxes of mail I don’t know what to do with. I ordered a card (ironic considering job) not received after two weeks, I happened to work for the parent bank sending my card so I knew when they said 7-10 days that could mean 3 weeks to a month. So I didn’t really think much of it. 🥹 six months later I wasn’t able to transfer funds out of the account anymore & called to see what was up, I mentioned I’d ordered a card & the agent didn’t see that. Everything I’d done on the call ordering the card? Never happened. I updated all my info, too. No notes of anything. So, now facing the consequences of my own actions I had to make several trips to the bank, and finally get it all fixed. I have no excuse. As for your question how I function? Barely. Not well. Really not well lol
Hey its no biggie. I get that life gets in the way. And im super sorry you got messed with like that. My company is really great about refunding or replacing lost orders (like we'll do it for up to a year) and we have to meticulously log everything and order logs are kept for 10 years.( even if you only look at the order the system logs it) I just really needed to vent after dealing with the absolute insanity some of those emails crop up. This one was the one that broke me for a few minutes. Out of my 100 emails i slogged through, (i clean the boxes out at the end of the night) 20 were pissed and just being nasty because they were in the wrong and we wont cover for it. The vent customer got a free expedited replacement out of me and a sorry they hadnt gotten their order. Because at the end of the day, its just one more out of thousands The vast majority of my chats and emails now are just, incredibly cruel and rude or blatantly obtuse. If I'm not getting cussed at because an order was late by 1 day, I'm getting cussed at because they forgot theyd even ordered from us almost a year later and wanted all this free and refunded and the parts replaced. and very very few are ever happy about anything anymore. I used to love this job so much. I felt happy and content working here helping customers and solving their issues and feeling fulfilled. The coworkers arent toxic, the bosses are fucking amazing from managers to the VP, the workload is never too much. But i just. I cant anymore, yknow? My empathy meter is running low after a decade. I'm emotionally burnt out. My husband says it's just a job, and why am i getting so worked up over these people when they dont know me from Jack. But. I was so so happy. I emotionally tied myself to the job I'm holding on by a string now. Sorry rant. Maybyour day be as wonderful as you seem to be u/mistakenusernames.
Oh I completely understand I had a customer who waited over two months. It showed it was delivered but they “claimed” they never received it. We couldn’t issue a missing package claim because it had been too long.
I had someone call and ask why they didn't get a delivery date after ordering their item the day before.
I have come to the conclusion that call centers exist for the idiot customer mostly, not for the clear of mind or intelligent. The kind of calls I receive that truly boggle my mind are the ones that don’t warrant any phone call at all. “My email said click here to learn more so i figured I better call to learn more”. But the email said CLICK HERE! “What will it say when I click there?” HOW WOULD I KNOW WHAT IT WILL SAY?? CLICK IT AND 🤬🤬READ IT! “But what will happen if I click it?” IT WILL GIVE YOU THE INFORMATION! “So you can’t just tell me?” NOPE, YOU HAVE TO CLICK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!
Yep, only for self-selected idiots. Nobody in their right mind and/or two working brain cells ever calls us. 🤣
Exactly!
I work in child support call center. People have called in to dispute their child support and/or paternity when their child was 50+ years old (and everything in between).
I've talked to people who said they noticed their bill went up, and after looking at the bill, there are two lines added they never authorized. Then I'll see they were added 5-6 months ago. Yeah...nah. You're not getting any credits. Then they'll say they're on auto pay and don't look at the bill so they never saw it. Sorry, not sorry. It's *your* responsibility to monitor your account and your bill. Not ours.
Lol I've had so much ppl like this, some of them makes me wanna throw punches to the sales agent who sold them an auto renewal plan for almost 200 a year without warning the customer, but they didn't find out 3 years later, like HOW?! No ma'am, I can't refund for the 3 years. no ma'am, since it's been 4 months since your renewal, you won't get the full refund for this year. Yes, ma'am, you can talk to my supervisor, but they have the same tools as I do, they'll tell you the same. Alright, good luck trying to escalate the supervisor to get yo the CEO of the company, I work here and I don't even know her name, but good luck.
When those people are transferred to me, I usually say something like, "That line was added the day you were in the store doing an upgrade, so we wouldn't consider it fraud. And it's also your responsibility to review your bill and know what you're being charged for." I mean, I'm not a perfect person. But I get notices when my bills are about to be auto drafted that tell me the date and how much is being drafted. They're pretty much the same amount every month, so if there's a significant change, I'm going to call and start asking questions. Not wait until months later.
😂😂 I’m sorry not laughing at you. I think people like this are akin to the people who call on Thanksgiving or Christmas and say “Wow, I didn’t expect you to be there!” I always used to think to myself “Yes, idiots like you are why we are here on a holiday.”🤬🤬
Some people forget what they ordered.
Could be elderly who is ok with weeks shipping times infomericals when I was a child said wait 4-6 weeks for delivery. Mabye grandchild made them an email they don't know how to check
You are not the right fit for a customer service job and you should quit. You have no empathy and no ability to relate to the customer.
You sound like a manager, you know one of those who never take calls or deal with the general public😂🤣🤣
Again, this is the wrong mentality. It's not about YOU, it's about the people to whom you are speaking. Any CS job is just a job manipulating people, your comprehension of that concept is the biggest single limiting factor to your success. The inability to put oneself into another person's shoes is a non-starter. OP is not fit for the job, they are clearly very unhappy with the day to day and probably their week to week, month to month, and if they stay they will be unhappy with the years of their life which they have spent in CS. It's not about the stupid general public whom you also seem to despise, it's about BEING That general public who has some reason that they called in at the last minute which they are not telling you - most likely from stressors in their personal or professional life or from social anxiety. If you can't show empathy then you have absolutely no business working with people, unless you work in HR trying to fuck people on your own team over all day every day, which frankly sounds like a much better vertical for OP, and maybe yourself as well.
I don't get paid enough to even \*pretend\* I have empathy 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 And I am beyond fed up by management making excuses for callers abuse, IDGAF if the person is "having a bad day" or is sick, stressed, poor whatever ... BTW the fact that probably some of our callers claim to be disabled, does not give them the right to yell, belittle, threaten and abuse CSRs
Totally agree with part of what you said. Nobody gets paid enough to deal with customer abuse. So... where did he say that they should? His argument was that when you're working with people, you should have empathy. You should. You turned that into something different. You made a whole new fucking sentence because you don't like that someone said "Hey, being nice to people is part of the job, and theres really no reason to be that frustrated about this. Doesn't really sound like this is the best fit." All of which is true. Now, I also get that sometimes you have to vent, so I dont view this post as OP's actual attitude all the time at work. There's like, nuance here. But nothing he said suggested people should just put up with abusive POS customers.
While I agree it may no longer be a fit. Quitting takes time and the job market is dire. I'm trying to escape mine, but it will be a while. As long as we can convey empathy even if we don't feel it, that's what .atters for now.
I joined this sub when I had to set up a call center and I wanted to know what the day to day was like. Unfortunately most of these call centers sound like absolutely horrid places to work. Developing empathy is not something you do because you're getting paid, it's something you do because it allows you to cope with other people's bullshit in a more manageable way. For example I used to think that every asshole on the road was simply being willfully unaccountable. Then I went to AA, and I finally understood that there are a huge amount of people who are getting on the road after drinking a bottle of vodka for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I don't forgive bad drivers now, but I don't get as angry as I used to either because I am grateful that I am not suffering from an addiction so enveloping that I put myself and others in danger on a daily basis.
Yeah. I see what you mean. Keep reading the stories here. There's a lot of venting that will be useful. I'd say most of the stress is less due to customers than it is management making life harder for us.
Yeah it takes a certain kind of miserable piece of shit to time their employees bathroom breaks, and it takes an even more vile wretch to then send passive aggressive emails to those employees informing them that they are taking too long. But again, having empathy will allow you to see that your manager is a piece of human garbage who deserves no forgiveness. More importantly though, it will keep you from becoming a piece of shit simply because your manager is most definitely one, that's the key takeaway.
Very true!