Rude Customer Service Symptom of Breakdown of Society
The Decline of Customer Service in America
What is going on with customer service in this country?
When I was growing up there was a saying in business circles: "The customer is always right." When I started working and had (perhaps more than) my share of low-paying customer service jobs, courtesy and professionalism were imperative. We were trained to be polite, to go above and beyond what the customer wanted. Our calls actually were monitored and recorded for performance reviews. People who were rude to customers were actually fired more often than reprimanded. If a customer called and complained about you, you suffered for it even if the customer was lying or actually crazy. There are countless numbers of women out there who've held customer service positions and had to deal with creepy, perverted male callers who think any toll free number is a sex hotline. Guess what? The customer service agents still had to be polite. It was a big deal to work at a place where they let you immediately hang up if the caller was obscene.
Nowadays, if you mention the old "customer is always right" blag you'd better have your earplugs and a backup account at a different company that you can use. Many people refuse to even deal with customer service people anymore. They put everything in writing or just immediately close their accounts. Most of us at this point are just praying there will never be a problem every time we do business with anyone.
So, what is happening to our country that people take a job they obviously don't care about and yet they don't get fired for angering and abusing customers? Damaging business relationships used to be a big deal. Is every business so well off now that they can afford not to give a damn? They may think so but I doubt it.
Many people lament the outsourcing of such jobs to other countries and complain about calling customer service only to find that the representative doesn't speak English that well. I think it matters a bit more what they're trying to say to you in the first place.
Obviously, the bulk of the problem lies on the employer side. It's true that customer service is a draining job and most workers shouldn't attempt to do it for more than a few months at a time. However, considering how hard it is to get hired anywhere in the first place anymore and how lengthy the application process is for the lowliest of jobs, companies should be finding more reliable employees. Isn't that supposedly the reason job seekers must jump through so many hoops, to give the company ample opportunity to weed them out and ensure the new hire is "a good fit"? Personally, I blame the "human resources" industry for hindering companies' ability to effectively screen candidates but that's a column for another day.
Companies should also responsibly supervise their employees and care about customer satisfaction. People who are rude to customers should quickly become former employees not supervisors.
Though customer service jobs don't pay well, it is always well above minimum wage so that shouldn't be the problem. In fact, most people are required to be vastly overqualified for this sort of job - and that, friends, is the core problem.
Most intelligent kids can answer a phone and take a message. They could read a script if you gave them one. They can type. If they're polite and friendly, there's nothing to disqualify them from doing this sort of job very well. Requiring people to go to college first or have several years of work experience is perhaps taking the biscuit. Why would anyone with a college education want this sort of job? Or any of the sorts of dead end jobs they're finding themselves trapped in these days? ('Administrative' jobs, that is. 'Administrative' is 1990's-speak for secretarial or clerical work.)
Answer: they don't want these jobs but they do have to eat. Resentment and boredom builds up in our best and brightest every day as they languish in clerical jobs for less money per year than it takes to live and keep up with the payments on their student loans. Dreams are dying, lives are wasting away, and excellence in service is going down the drain with them.
Why does this happen? Contempt for liberal arts majors in the business world is one huge factor. The undervaluation of the undergraduate degree is another. In just one generation, earning a college degree became de riguer. Employers who have this attitude towards education are directly contributing to the breakdown of society. The rude customer service agent is just a symptom. A sad and really infuriating symptom.
Until we see some real changes in this country in the way that people are hired and the ways they are treated in the workforce - not to mention some growth in real industries and not just service sector jobs - I'm afraid we're going to have to continue to put up with the temper tantrums on the customer service lines. The solution isn't for customers to be nicer and more patient or for companies to look the other way when an employee behaves abominably. It's for companies to sit up and notice when they've got an intelligent, educated person's resume in hand; when they have bright, talented people on the lowest levels of their staff, underutilized and underpaid; when they've got knuckleheads in "human resources" including 'college degree' and other extravagances as requirements for low-level work.
(Of course, until that time, anyone who finds themselves in this position - frustrated and screaming like a banshee or hanging up on paying customers - would do well to master themselves or be bold enough to quit and find another job. Either choice will do.)
If this country is going to continue to throw it's intelligent, educated workers on the dung heap, perhaps one day soon other up-and-coming countries will start hiring Americans en masse. In the internet age the world is indeed becoming smaller, but it would still be nice to find a decent job at home, wouldn't it? Think about it and have a nice day.
Published by MR
MR is a freelance writer. View profile
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- People who are rude to customers should quickly become former employees not supervisors.
- 'Administrative' is 1990's-speak for secretarial or clerical work.
- The rude customer service agent is just a symptom.
18 Comments
Post a CommentJust one of a million reasons why I would never live in the US again. In Asia, customer service is superb. America is going down the toilet and the disgusting customer service is just one more example of it.
I've been on both sides of this issue. As a customer who has been treated rudely: I feel it is the problem of companies just growing too big and not allowing customer service people the ability to correct problems, even the simplist ones, by phone. No amount of pay is worth a job that receives constant abuse. But when I've been polite, called every number found on-line and asked to be forwarded to every person available in the company and STILL got no response or reaction to my issue(s), it causes serious resentment and anger. On the flipside, as a customer service manager for a small business: the experience has been true that too many people think they have a clue and they don't. We are in a society where everyone expects to complain and get something for free. I have had to hang up on customers (politely) because there was no resolution to their ranting & raving (no matter how many hours, yes I said hours, I've investigated and responded to their letters and issue). At the point
You're joking, right? I mean this was put up as a prank by someone right? The reason customer srevice has depleted is because customers went from respectable to douchebags. I used to work in a grocery store (so glad I quit) and when a customer was rude to me, I would not put up with their bullshit. I'd be even more rude to them. Minimum wage is not enough to be taking crap and slaps from people who think they're all that. You might wanna take this stupid article down because you obviously wrote it when you were either high, drunk or having a psychotic breakdown. Either that or you got put in your place by a customer service rep and wrote this (boohoo) grow up.
Bad customers have ruined it for everyone else. It's not the decline of customer service but the decline of our vapid society who have bought into the illusion that everyone is special and entitled. Even to the point that some people think it's against the law to refuse a supervisor among other absurd notions. There are those customers who have a right to be upset when things go wrong. However when you call, you're likely speaking with an agent who was verbally abused for 30 minutes because they wouldn't give a customer free service for a year because Matlock was cancelled. Believe me, people are horrid and our species deserves...no...needs...extinction.
This article is a joke.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2727497/starbucks_vs_tullys_customer_service.html?cat=9
please check out my customer service
There is no clear answer on what is wrong with customer service. I can from experience give you examples of poor customers thinking they are getting poor service because they do not get the answers they want. Customers need to take responsibility for themselves. This is the age of information. If you know what you want but dont know where to find it.. google it. It is not the sales associates fault that the store does not and has not ever carried the item you are looking for.
Dear customers, please think before you shop. If you have no time to wait in line, wait to shop when you do. Remember Murphy's Law!
Dear customer, if you want to return something, have a receipt. BE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN STUFF. Most return policies are printed on the receipt these day.. read them.
Another tip, if you shop at a place that uses awards cards, have your ready. The cashier should not have to ask for it, You, the shopper should be ready to check out. Even end up behind the shopper t
QUOTE: "Though customer service jobs don't pay well, it is always well above minimum wage so that shouldn't be the problem."
That has never been my experience, in fact I worked in customer service for a year and a half and made 45 cents above minimum wage, then when minimum wage increased, my employer simply brought my wage up to minimum. I eventually got fed up with the working conditions and quit.
The fact is, working conditions for customer service positions are often very stressful, customers and supervisors are very demanding, and pay/benefits are not good at all.
Just consider that next time you deal with a customer service representative.
Bottom line is customers are NOT always right. If they treat you rude and inappropriately, no amount of money is worth it for the tech guys getting paid nothing. They are not psychological clinicians they are there to get the detailed information and find a solution if it is in their realm of expertise. Customers think tech support are supposed to know everything and fix everything. The whole CUSTOMER attitude that they are holier than thou is the problem. NOT the tech support. What has changed is the people, not the support mechanisms. People feel helpless and insecure and take it out on the first person they deal with.
I just had one of the worst customer service expireinces in a very long time. It happened at the fredmyer in Washington state in puyallup on merididan and 176th street. I was using the self check out, purchasing alcoholic beverages. When the machine asked for id approval, the cashier (her name is star) who checks your identification stood behind her station and signled me to walk over to her. I thought that was kind of rude. She made it seem like I was interupting what she was doing (which was nothing but standing there) because the machine need her approval. When I told her (Star) that that was rude customer service, she responded by saying, "you bet". Basically she (star) was saying that she knew she was being rude and she did not care. What do you think about this?