Swearing in Customer Service is underrated.

[Darth_Kitten]

Someone called me a @#$#@ idiotic asshole and I responded, "No sir, you are"

He was hanging up at the time but I said it outloud (before I heard a click at the end). I lost it. :D

I never lose it at work. :)

[skygazer]

1. People feel free to behave abominably to customer service people

Because they know they're not supposed to respond in kind.

I work retail and get a lot of grief from people - my usual tactic is to subtly and professionally insult them in such a way that they can't really tell if I'm doing it on purpose or not.

Me - "It's on aisle 3, sir."

Customer - "Where the hell is that?"

Me - "It's this way, sir - just past aisle 2 and directly before aisle 4."



Customer - "I've been coming here for 30 years and I never find what I want!"

Me - "My, well aren't you persistent?"



Customer - "The sign said this item was 4 for $1.00."

Me (holding up five different signs that all say "4 POUNDS for $1.00) - "Oh, was it this one? Or maybe this one? Or was it this one?..."

:P

[Darth_Kitten]

2. I usually get normal people on the phone.....

and am super-sicky-sweet with them. This one, hell, nobody calls me names. :D

I usually hang up but it was like a force came over me. :evilgrin:

[Haole Girl]

3. After 20 years, and 3 different airlines, I just laugh when people swear.

It's the underhanded personal jabs, especially the sarcastic ones, that might get under my skin. But people can call me any name in the book & it doesn't phase me. They are usually quite shocked that I am not shocked, too.lol Look at it this way-- it reflects poorly on them not you. Hang in there! :hug:

[graywarrior]

4. I understand.

I've done customer service. After a few of those, I would go dead silent on the phone until they started sayin "hello?" "hello? is anyone there?" followed by a bunch of really creative swearing. Then I'd answer or accidently get disconnected. Bastards.

[littlebit]

5. This is why I became a truck driver

it is not only acceptable for me to swear it is kind of expected.:)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. I used to work in Loss Mitigation for a mortgage company.

Those idiots wanted me to kiss their asses like they were buying a car from me, not calling me begging for help to save their HOUSE! This really pissed me off, and when people would get all upset and freak out, I would just get really quiet and let them do their screaming. I wouldn't react. I wouldn't defend myself. This usually diffused them. At one point I had a lady go, "Hello? Are you there?" And I so sweetly replied, "Yes Ma'am, I just thought letting you get it out might make you feel better. Did it?" And she laughed.
I said, "There now. I was not the one who wronged you. So lets move on and I promise I will make you feel better about our company if you will just let me get through this and see if we can help you."
But there are always those douche bags who will always just be nasty and yell. Those are the people we would put on hold for a while, and if we came back to them and they were still pissy, we'd put them on hold some more. One girl in our office used to say, "Sir, if you're going to yell at me then I can't help you. I've put you on hold for ten minutes to calm down and you're not, so why don't you call me back when you have calmed down a bit and are ready for me to help you." And then she'd give him her direct extension and then she'd hang up. It was wonderful.
Of course that department sucks now because it's all scripted bullshit. We got away with so much shit on the phones just because we had the most awesome bosses and they knew what we were going through. The ones now are all positive and lalala. It just sucks.
Duckie

[ghostsofgiants]

7. If I could say the things I wanted to say to some of the customers I deal with...

My job would be much more fun.

If I ever have my own business that deals with customers, I will run it like Bernard Black runs his book store.

[harmonicon]

8. +1

Black Books is maybe the funniest tv show ever made. My girlfriend gave me a dvd of it for my birthday a few years ago, because she siad that it was exactly what it would be like if I owned my own book shop.

[ghostsofgiants]

10. Hells yeah.

I am a big fan of Dylan Moran. Hilarious show, and his stand-up is top notch as well.

[leeroysphitz]

9. But I thought that those calls may recorded to ensure something or other...

Aren't you worried about your livelihood?

[nuxvomica]

11. Apparently you are made of rubber and not glue

If you only you had had more time, you could've explained that to the other party. What you said, however, was at just the right comprehension level for such a person. :rofl:

[Obama4ever]

12. Tech Support is the worst

I've done it for a couple years now. You wouldn't believe the way idiots abuse call center workers who are overworked and underpaid to deal with idiots who think "wireless" means you don't need a source of electricity.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. oh yeah. I am right there with you

I am like the other poster below. The swearing doesn't bother me nearly as as much as the sarcastic innuendo and smarmy remarks

like ..well now we know how your company is making up for its stock loss since you just raised my payment

when actually we raised their payment because their property taxes doubled or tripled. Or their homeowners insurance..Or both.

I don't tolerate stupid well at all; under educated is OK, uninformed is tolerable but just plain stupid.

Uh UH

I so wanted to rip every one of them a new one. I used to make extremely obscene gestures at the phone instead. It actually did relieve the stress and loop the adrenaline out a bit.

Now that I am not working there anymore I am thinking no more customer service jobs for a while, unless it is where my niece works where people are calling in to get you to fix them up on vacation plans and it is something they want to do so they are not pissed off. I am ready to go back into the woodwork on a research type of job instead.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

14. I work in a building with a lot of customer service people for a huge bank

If they swear at the customer, they are fired. Period. No matter what filthy vile things are said to them.

The funny thing is, one of them told me a manager told them that if the customer swears at them and asks for a supervisor, that they had failed the call. I guess because then THEY have to talk to the asshole.

[bettyellen]

15. someone reported me for accidentally saying "oh shit" (not to them) when i had a phone job...

they thought my bosses shld know what an out of control fucking heathen i was. don;t ask me why they hung on the line listening to me sneeze for 30-40 seconds, and then swear.. and then called my boss. jesus fuck, what losers, huh?

[vixengrl]

16. My calls actually are monitored for quality assurance--

but I have found under-the-breath- cussing while the hold button is down to be an invaluable resource. Some people really do not seem to get the the person on the other end of the phone is really just a peson trying to do their job, and that if they can't do something the customer wants, it's because A) It's actually not possible or B)they would be sooooo fired for doing it. And they make it personal. I hate that. If I could declare "Ponies for everybody" day not to get grief at work--I might. But I would still have people tell me my organization is the pits, and have many valuable (dumb, impractical) solutions as to how we'd do things better offered to me, as if I was in a position to be the "agent of change". They never seem to get that the customer service people-to-customer ratio is really low, and if you can reach me by phone, I'm probably not the decision-maker. I'm outnumbered, and very aware of it.

Every now and again, since at my call center we let the customer hang up, and don't manually disconnect, I'll hear them cussing *me* out before dropping the receiver, not knowing I can still hear them. I can't even be offended. Sometimes it's even funny.

If it wasn't for the odd response while on hold, or commiserating with co-workers over what I *wanted* to say, I'd go stark-raving bonkers.