The Electronic Wall
Whatever happened to customer service? You know, not the old axiom "the customer is always right," because they frequently aren't, but a simple "May I help you?" instead of the prevailing attitude of "Go away, I'm working here." A prime example of how insipidly tolerant we've become is the telephone answering system, or as I often refer to it: The Electronic Wall.
If the DDR had phone systems like this back during the Cold War, it would have proven a more effective wall than that in Berlin. This little electronic box has proven more reliable in keeping people out of a business than anything else out there. Case in point:
I went online today to buy a steamer for work so we could iron out the wrinkles in a photographic backdrop for a photo shoot we're doing Friday. I finally found one at Sears, for a very reasonable price, but I wanted to call the store and see whether they had any in stock before I committed to buying one, mainly because we need it now, not next week when one likely would have shipped. It took me eight phone calls and over THIRTY MINUTES to get that question answered. I had to go through the operator three times because I had no idea which department I even needed to contact. Even when I did get through to a department, never mind whether or not it was the correct one, no one ever picked up! And if that wasn't bad enough, when no one picked up, the system kicked you back to the very beginning, so I had to sit through the whole "Dial one for store hours, dial two for..."
When I did finally get through to the correct department (housewares, not small appliances), and someone did finally pick up the verschlügener phone, they were so irritatingly indignant, as if I was interrupting them! The mental capacity of said "customer service" (there's a misnomer, if ever I heard one) representative can best be described as vapid, as every third word out of her mouth was either "uh" or "um."
To say that I was about ready to rip someone's arm off and beat them to death with it would be an understatement. I was absolutely seething by the time I got the item purchased and drove to Sears to pick it up. The only saving grace was that once I actually got there, I wasn't in the lobby two minutes before someone had walked out to hand me the steamer; that part of customer service they have down, pat.
When I openly yearn for "the good old days," like the 1950's, I have to remind the numbnutted morons who say stupid shit like "you want to go back to segregated bathrooms and water fountains?" that what I'm actually talking about is a day when government of all levels took a grand total of less than 13% of our pay in taxes and businesses knew and appreciated it when you visited them. They knew you could go somewhere else, and they bent over backwards to let you know they genuinely appreciated your patronage. Not so today. Like I said earlier, employees behave more like they're being interrupted instead of doing their jobs. Well, gee; if I'm that much of a hinderance to your day, I'll just go elsewhere. Then, when your boss asks me why I left, you can go flip burgers for a living, provided you can display at least a minimum competency at even that.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not asking employees to kiss my ass, but it would be nice every now and then if they would so much as acknowledge it.
Semper Fi
The Almighty Mattski
If the DDR had phone systems like this back during the Cold War, it would have proven a more effective wall than that in Berlin. This little electronic box has proven more reliable in keeping people out of a business than anything else out there. Case in point:
I went online today to buy a steamer for work so we could iron out the wrinkles in a photographic backdrop for a photo shoot we're doing Friday. I finally found one at Sears, for a very reasonable price, but I wanted to call the store and see whether they had any in stock before I committed to buying one, mainly because we need it now, not next week when one likely would have shipped. It took me eight phone calls and over THIRTY MINUTES to get that question answered. I had to go through the operator three times because I had no idea which department I even needed to contact. Even when I did get through to a department, never mind whether or not it was the correct one, no one ever picked up! And if that wasn't bad enough, when no one picked up, the system kicked you back to the very beginning, so I had to sit through the whole "Dial one for store hours, dial two for..."
When I did finally get through to the correct department (housewares, not small appliances), and someone did finally pick up the verschlügener phone, they were so irritatingly indignant, as if I was interrupting them! The mental capacity of said "customer service" (there's a misnomer, if ever I heard one) representative can best be described as vapid, as every third word out of her mouth was either "uh" or "um."
To say that I was about ready to rip someone's arm off and beat them to death with it would be an understatement. I was absolutely seething by the time I got the item purchased and drove to Sears to pick it up. The only saving grace was that once I actually got there, I wasn't in the lobby two minutes before someone had walked out to hand me the steamer; that part of customer service they have down, pat.
When I openly yearn for "the good old days," like the 1950's, I have to remind the numbnutted morons who say stupid shit like "you want to go back to segregated bathrooms and water fountains?" that what I'm actually talking about is a day when government of all levels took a grand total of less than 13% of our pay in taxes and businesses knew and appreciated it when you visited them. They knew you could go somewhere else, and they bent over backwards to let you know they genuinely appreciated your patronage. Not so today. Like I said earlier, employees behave more like they're being interrupted instead of doing their jobs. Well, gee; if I'm that much of a hinderance to your day, I'll just go elsewhere. Then, when your boss asks me why I left, you can go flip burgers for a living, provided you can display at least a minimum competency at even that.
Don't get me wrong; I'm not asking employees to kiss my ass, but it would be nice every now and then if they would so much as acknowledge it.
Semper Fi
The Almighty Mattski
posted by The Almighty Mattski | 21:39
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