The Rage-Inducing Hell That Is Customer Service
And how it helped me grow up
There are a lot of mean people. The good outweighs the bad by a huge margin, But even with a small margin are there a lot of mean people.
Perhaps it is more correct to say it like this. There are a lot of people who in certain circumstances act mean, this does not make them mean people but forced by their own personal reasons to act out in what to others might seem like an appalling way.
My first job fresh out of college was for a telecom company as a support and customer service agent. I was beyond myself with joy!
It was my first real job!
The pay was borderline criminal, the hours were terrible and the drive was 45 minutes. These did not matter, I could finally support myself, and had a chance to climb the ladder!
Or so I thought. How naive I was.
I don’t think people are mean because they want to, either there is external or internal pressure that makes some act irrationally. Sure there is bound to be the occasional rotten egg that simply derives pleasure from trampling others beneath their feet. But for the most part, I’m quite sure there are reasons why people would act in a condescending way to others.
The first day on the job and I was introduced to my assignments. I was to take calls from customers regarding their service. The company sold network services, mobile internet, phone connections and had an email service.
Everything was controlled by routine, down to the answers I had to give to customers. In the end, it did not matter if there was an error in the service. My job boiled down to talking the customer into thinking the fault was not with us. To try and talk the customer into believing that his slow internet was because he was too far away from the connection station.
No sir. There is no issue with the service, you simply live too far away in the forest.
No miss. There is no fault with the service. You probably have too many digital items in your home. They interfere with each other.
But if you upgrade the service to this plan it will work much better.
It was a scam. A total scam. Most issues could be solved with troubleshooting. Tinkering with the configuration on our side. I felt really bad so I started to help people instead.
This went on for a few days. I sat there talking to a customer trying to figure out why their phone line would not connect properly when a hand landed on my shoulder. It was my team leader.
We have to talk to you he told me. I could not really understand who we were but I told him that there was a call on hold. He promptly pressed a button on my phone to end the call then asking me to follow him.
inside a small 2x2 room with no windows, 3 seats and a table. I sat there alone for about 10 minutes when my team leader came back with a man I had never seen before. This was apparently my supervisor and I had never met him, I was under the impression that the person who showed me around was my supervisor.
You are not doing a good job.
These were the first words from his mouth. My call times had gone up from four minutes each call to twelve. This was completely unacceptable to them. I tried to explain that I was helping their customers and that everyone I had talked to was happy to have been helped.
We cannot keep you hired if you don’t do a good job
I was completely baffled, was this how work life was? Was this how it was being an adult? I felt complete rejection towards growing up and I could feel all my dreams shattering.
I didn’t want to be like this man. I didn’t want to be like my team leader. They felt oppressing and mean, they did not care what I felt and it felt like they looked at me with disdain when I told them about helping people.
Do as you are told, nothing else.
I sat there, frozen in place. No words came out of my mouth all I could do was nod my head. We left and I went back to my seat, staring in my screen.
I was angry. I had so many things to say! Why could I not say it then and there! I was afraid of losing this first job of mine. If I lost my first job why would anyone ever hire me somewhere else?
Even though I feared the unknown I still decided that I would not change my way. If my feelings told me it was right to help people and wrong to trick them then it would be better to lose my job then to break my principles.
I kept doing what I did. I kept helping people as much as I could. I was called into the office several times and rebuked time and time again. But I never budged.
Don’t give up or give in in the face of patronising ridicule, amused disdain, or being ignored.
- Meryl Streep
This choice has defined my adult life. And I hope it can inspire others to stick to their principles and what they believe is good.
I don’t resent my supervisor or team leader. I am sure that they had their reasons for acting that way, or at least I hope they did. I don’t know their circumstances and so there is no way for me to tell if it was in any way justifiable.
But greatness should never come through the cost of others.
I am happy I made that choice. two months later I received a phone call for a technical job as a support agent. While it was still a customer service focused job it ended up being a much better employer. The focus here was to help the customer as much as possible, and we did. For several years I worked here and it was a great time doing so.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.
- Albert Einstein
I have never regretted that first job. It was 3 horrible months. But two of the most important lessons I have learned in life comes from this.
Never take anything for granted & never break your principles.
