Oh no! Least it pays the bills etc. and so long it keeps a roof over your head
This is the people I deal with
- Thread starter Demon_Skeith
- Start date
I've never done any kind of tech support customer service, but I did work a customer service job for a little over a year (until I found my current job, which I like a lot more. Pays much better too.)
When I did work as a customer service rep (CSR from here on out) it was an almost guaranteed weekly event that you would get yelled at for something. Especially if the technology didn't work right.
I'd really like if people would be nicer to CSRs because the amount of crap they go through every day is ridiculous. I kind of think every person should have to be a CSR for like 3-4 months just so they get that experience and then maybe later on they'll remember what it was like and be nicer to the person in front of them. Especially in jobs that involve a lot of sensitive tech. Tech can, and does often, fail. It's not the person in front you you's fault in 99% of times. They're just the face of the company who's going to get broadsided by complaints for something they have no control over.
When I did work as a customer service rep (CSR from here on out) it was an almost guaranteed weekly event that you would get yelled at for something. Especially if the technology didn't work right.
I remember the worst night I ever had as a CSR was when head office started doing server maintenance at 5PM my time with no notice to us. (If I'd have known I'd have locked the store so customers couldn't get in or at least put up a sign indicating trouble while the systems were down.) The store didn't close for another couple hours and usually the 5-6pm timeslot was dead. No one would come in because they're on their way home or are already home and are eating. But not this day... all of a sudden a bunch of people come in and wanted to pay for things.
I explained that because of system maintenance our systems were down and I couldn't ring anyone through. First customer up was a large black lady. She immediately said she wanted to use her debit card to pay and that it shouldn't be affected since it's a debit visa. I explained that the entire system was down, I couldn't ring any transaction through regardless of what it was. She got extremely angry, she wanted to pay by debit right then.
About this time others were getting frustrated too. They just wanted to go. So I said:
"Ok, here's what I can do and it's going to involve a lot of trust on both sides... I can either accept cash now or if you're willing to show me your credit card so I can record the numbers I can ring the items through when the system comes up. Those are the only 2 options I have as long as the system is offline."
I turned to the black lady and said:
"Sorry, but I still can't put your debit card through. I know it says visa on it, but our system won't ring it through that way even if I manually enter the numbers. I've tried a bunch of times before. It'll require the chip to be inserted and the pin to be entered. That's the only way I can process a debit transaction. If you really want to use it then you're going to have to wait until the system comes back online... which I don't have any kind of timeline for."
She got extremely pissed off, accused me of running some kind of scam and treating her badly because she was black.
After a little bit of her going off on me, finally one of the other customers told her to just move aside and wait if she was so adamant about using her debit card. She finally backed off and others came up and gave me their credit card info so I could enter it later. Finally she was the last one left and just by sheer luck the systems were finally coming back online (this was like an hour later by this point) and she was finally able to pay and be on her way. She was absolutely not happy about it though.
It was at that point that I decided I was never doing customer service again. The $11 an hour I was making then was not worth the effort. I was tired of being abused by every person that came through the door and unable to say anything back.
I explained that because of system maintenance our systems were down and I couldn't ring anyone through. First customer up was a large black lady. She immediately said she wanted to use her debit card to pay and that it shouldn't be affected since it's a debit visa. I explained that the entire system was down, I couldn't ring any transaction through regardless of what it was. She got extremely angry, she wanted to pay by debit right then.
About this time others were getting frustrated too. They just wanted to go. So I said:
"Ok, here's what I can do and it's going to involve a lot of trust on both sides... I can either accept cash now or if you're willing to show me your credit card so I can record the numbers I can ring the items through when the system comes up. Those are the only 2 options I have as long as the system is offline."
I turned to the black lady and said:
"Sorry, but I still can't put your debit card through. I know it says visa on it, but our system won't ring it through that way even if I manually enter the numbers. I've tried a bunch of times before. It'll require the chip to be inserted and the pin to be entered. That's the only way I can process a debit transaction. If you really want to use it then you're going to have to wait until the system comes back online... which I don't have any kind of timeline for."
She got extremely pissed off, accused me of running some kind of scam and treating her badly because she was black.
After a little bit of her going off on me, finally one of the other customers told her to just move aside and wait if she was so adamant about using her debit card. She finally backed off and others came up and gave me their credit card info so I could enter it later. Finally she was the last one left and just by sheer luck the systems were finally coming back online (this was like an hour later by this point) and she was finally able to pay and be on her way. She was absolutely not happy about it though.
It was at that point that I decided I was never doing customer service again. The $11 an hour I was making then was not worth the effort. I was tired of being abused by every person that came through the door and unable to say anything back.
I'd really like if people would be nicer to CSRs because the amount of crap they go through every day is ridiculous. I kind of think every person should have to be a CSR for like 3-4 months just so they get that experience and then maybe later on they'll remember what it was like and be nicer to the person in front of them. Especially in jobs that involve a lot of sensitive tech. Tech can, and does often, fail. It's not the person in front you you's fault in 99% of times. They're just the face of the company who's going to get broadsided by complaints for something they have no control over.
I did have a short CSR job for more of a health related job, I got yelled at daily by people not getting their pay or benefits or too much paperwork. Plus the company I worked for didn't have its shit together and learned recently its losing one of its biggest clients, google. So yeah, no job is perfect but its the first step towards better things.
Yeah, you really don't want that kind of stress in your life. I would have done the same. Good on ya!
I could deal with the yelling, but just not the company.
That bad huh?
That bad huh?
they don't have their shit together, they are actually losing google as a client.