OK, let’s be real, sometimes working customer service absolutely sucks. You do the same thing over and over, and deal with the same people every shift. It can get tiring. You’re just trying to punch in, do your job, and punch out, but it seems like everyone else’s goal is to try to get you to crack. Luckily, you haven’t. You put on that fake smile and you keep on going.
I’m not saying I hate customers. I truthfully enjoy when a reasonable human being comes in with a warm smile and a good attitude. But if you come in and yell at me about something I have no control over, my smile may be a little smaller.
1. Redundancies
This is one of the number one things I cannot stand about working in customer service. Redundancies go both ways, for myself and for the customer. Where I work, in order to do my job, I need to get the customer’s identification information, and since I do the same thing 8 billion times a day, I get confused about whether I already asked the customer what their phone number is, since I’ve done it… 8 billion times. The same situation goes for the customer's questions. You might think you’re coming into the office and asking me a simple question I may not have heard today, but let’s be honest, I’ve answered your same question for 20 other people. Yes, we close at 10.
2. The Customer is Always Right... Wrong.
Just because I have to put the customer first doesn’t mean that they are always right. I understand the saying. You have to make them feel like they’re right, even though they’re not. A lot. Smile and nod, just smile and nod.
3. Customers Who Think They're Funny
I know so many working in the customer service industry that just want to do their job peacefully, proactively, and quickly. We would absolutely love to help you, but if you hover over me while I’m behind my desk and start cracking jokes about your personal life, don’t be surprised if I just calmly smile and continue my job instead of start slapping my knee.
4. Nobody Reads the Signs
It’s a basic principal: customer service workers will be less annoyed if customers use their cognitive capacities to answer easy questions. Our hours are printed on the door and our address is online. Please don’t hold up the line to ask a basic question when the answer is right in from of you. You're smarter than this.
5. "Can I Speak With Your Supervisor?"
I don’t understand why customers insist on speaking with my supervisor when I may give them an answer to their question, or problem, that they may not particularly like. Do they not understand my supervisor is going to tell them the exact same thing? The mature ones thank me and leave with their information; the lesser, they like to badger on. Sure, I’ll get my supervisor, so you can get a more qualified “no.”
