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Wednesday 9 September 2009

Care factor?


I was at the bank doing the corporate banking thing and waiting for one of the tellers to become free. They were dealing with this customer who was overdrawn on his bank account and it was the banks fault - apparently. I'm not sure how it was their fault that he had used up all his money but he was yelling and screaming and carrying on like a pork chop (Aussie for madman). The tellers just stood there and didn’t react. They were calm, pleasant and polite even as his words became more aggressive. If you listened to him, he declared loudly that he had half a million dollars he could lay his hands on in an instant. He also had a platinum credit card. What is it with people who have to tell you they were dumb enough to pay membership fees to a credit card company in order to get a ‘platinum card’? It’s still plastic and no more special than my standard navy blue card – no membership fee – that works just as well. Of course the question is why didn’t this dipstick use this sum of money or his pretty card to save himself from getting overdrawn? Now, if it had of been me fronting him I would have asked that. But that’s me. I like to query inane statements. In the end he stormed out of the bank 'never to return' as he was 'closing' all his accounts...which to me sounded like a moot point due to the whole overdrawn – no money thing. He looked at us in the queue as if to say 'I told them'. I think he wanted us to congratulate him. I looked back at him like he was a nong and favoured him with an eye roll. That’s the best I can do with nongs. They deserve no more.

‘Got an issue with a service provider? Then by all means complain. It's your right as a consumer. But I have to tell you, having worked in customer service, in the past for a long time, a good customer service rep will not flinch or react to whatever insult you throw at them or their company. Why? Because they don’t give a crap. They're there to get paid and you can scream yourself silly and they will tow the company line or spout off policy they don’t particularly believe in in order to make the next house payment or pay off the electricity bill. It’s a job. It’s not their life and if you want to beat your chest, stamp your feet and go red in the face to prove some point then go ahead. It will be good gossip over a lunch break or at the staff Christmas party when they play back the security tapes. Screaming is pointless. The front of house people – or the cannon fodder - have no power. So, leave ‘em alone. Give ‘em a break. Go for the manager. They get paid a lot more to put up with crap and they usually have a fancy badge to prove it. Make ‘em work for their title.

www.amarindajones.com
www.amarindajones.blogspot.com
Be daring...read an Amarinda book

1 comments:

Sandra Cox said...

Isn't that the truth. Front line always catches the bullets.