The Value of Kindness is $6
A true story about dealing with customer service
My twin sister and I recently turned 47. For our birthday, our mother gave us each a $100 gift card. At least, that’s what she intended. Instead, what she bought us were reloadable bank cards.
In order to activate these cards, we had to provide our name, address, social security number, and two forms of ID. When my twin went to set hers up, she accidentally messed up her social security number, which, as it turns out, is the only way to get a living human being on the phone. You have to screw up somewhere — otherwise the automated voice will happily lead you through the process, and the reloadable bank card people will own your soul.
By the time the living human got on the phone, the twin was frustrated. She was snippy with the woman as she explained that she didn’t want the card; she just wanted the money that was on it. The woman offered her a refund, but there would be a $6 fee. That was fine with the twin. She’d take her $94 dollars and be done with that stupid card.
And so I knew, going into the whole activation process, that I didn’t actually want the card and that I needed to screw up somehow in order to talk to a real person. Fortunately, the automated system couldn’t understand me when I was giving my address, and so I was transferred to a live human. The automated process heard me say “dounty road” instead of “county road,” which is ridiculous because that’s not even a word. No matter. The mix-up got me sent to a customer service representative, which was what I needed to happen.
I explained to her that my mother had given me this card thinking it was a gift card, that my mother is very old and does these things sometimes. I was not at all snippy. I was just a tired woman, grateful to have this customer service representative’s help. She put in my request for a refund and told me I’d get it in ten business days. I thanked her profusely, as I tend to do when the customer service representative is kind and helpful.
Friday, the twin got her $94. My check didn’t come until Monday — $100. There was no fee for me. Maybe we worded our requests differently. Maybe there’s grace for people with very old mothers. Or perhaps, there was a $6 charge for being snippy and rude. The moral of the story, of course, is that the customer service representative has all the power in the relationship, and even if you’re frustrated, you need to respect that power and be super nice. Tell them about your very old mother, confide in them and thank them for their help. Otherwise, they may charge you a service fee. I think it’s very likely that the customer service representative pocketed my twin’s $6, and who can really blame her?
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