I work in a one man ticket office at a small rural railway station.
When a tree fell on the tracks and nothing was going through I had the usual procession of “so do you know when…” answered politely with “sorry, no idea” until I got Mr. I'm The One.
“So it's your fault I'm stuck here, what are you going to do about it?” Shouted in a room full of other people who knew they could either get a taxi or wait.
Sorry, my patience snapped.
I started hitting myself around the head, and yelling “oh you're so bad Ian, you went and uprooted that tree just so this guy couldn't get home, you deserve smacking you heartless bastard”.
Boy was I channelling my Basil Fawlty!
He looked at me aghast and walked away.
Luckily the situation resolved minutes later and the office emptied as the driver told everyone to get back on.
I thought little of it, a funny story to tell my wife, until he returned the following evening.
He apologised, he'd had a bad day, problems at work, yammer yammer, and he shouldn't have taken it out on me.
I also apologised, but he said it was the perfect way for me to react to get him off his high horse.
My best customer experience was at the Alaska gate in SNA years ago when the flight was cancelled. The customer ahead of me cursed out the agent and she put him on a later flight. He was cruel, so when I stepped up to the counter I said “I’m not with that guy.” The agent laughed and said she can get me home almost on time if I accept an upgrade to first class and take a flight with one stop. I did and she did.
That turns out to be a very American thing: we want to have a relationship with the companies we shop at. That's why our biggest threat is "I'm breaking up with you!" ("I'll never shop here again!"). And just like lost lovers, we often find ourselves humbly returning...(especially when we discover how few other fish there are in the sea).
You nailed it with the riff on store apps. Like just about all apps connected to a business, they are designed and written by people who never use them. As an app developer, I'm guilty of that myself, but by listening to my users' feedback over 3 years I managed to change my flagship app from a mediocre-at-best into a gold standard for my tiny niche market.
Store apps are a source of constant joy and frustration. Some work extremely well, while others make me wander in circles for a longer time period than I ever spend in the store. I think we’re at the point where the app experiences is more important than personal interaction.
The biggest problem with store apps is the process of getting them made. Management contracts it to a development company. They assign it to a design team, which will focus on how nice it looks and how easy they think it will be to use. Once they've worked up the design it will go to the developers to actually write the code. Sometimes they nail it, but often they miss. I suspect it's because nobody actually takes the prototype app into the store and uses it while shopping. Only then do you actually see how it should work.
This is brilliant. So relatable. I worked in customer service most of my life. Started at age 16. So many memories. I never dreamed it would make great comic strip material. Well done! I love that snarky little customer service girl. She says what I only wished I could’ve said out loud.
I like Lowes, the employees there have just stop caring at all. I like their honesty. Yes there is one in each store that give you false hope that someone cares, but the next week there dead. Old people just don't seem to hang on like they use to.
But what if they're just there doing inventory or having a store meeting and it's not actually open? They probably shouldn't answer the phone then, but sometimes they DO.
If I have to give them my phone number or put another app on my phone, forget it.
From the other side of the counter, one time I helped catch a woman who was trying to buy an expensive purse with a stolen wallet and checkbook and pass herself off as the woman in the ID. It was during a Christmas campaign where we got stickers for every store credit card we got someone to sign up for, and whoever got the most stickers each week won a prize. My reward for stopping this criminal mastermind was a whole sheet of stickers.
i was a bank teller for many years and lemme tell ya, customer service in banking is tricky cuz the customer is rarely right and you have to let them down veeeeery gently when telling them so. 😄
The real problem customers are the ones who can only talk to YOU. In this whole building of people who do the same job YOU are the person. They will wait in line for YOU and if YOU aren't spending the whole day waiting for them too, it's just game over. Might as well just die then.
Ilove when the popcorn bucket comes out! If you’re going to lose 15 minutes of your life - carry on. But, if it’s going to be a double feature- get the popcorn!!
My favorite was when I was working at Lowe’s. Invariably, at least once a week, I heard “Do you work here?”. Eventually I started answering with “No, I bought the vest off eBay and I’m shoplifting. Don’t tell anybody!”
I have always maintained that it should be mandatory in law, that the first job everyone gets should be as a front facing customer service person!
Everyone should learn just how rude, nasty, irrationally angry, ignorant and infuriating customers can be! And that stupid saying about the “customer is always right” should be removed from every service companies work rules.
With a career change from retail manager to salt water fishing guide, I became Captain of my own boat, and I make sure every guest understood that I AM the boss, the ONLY boss, and what I say goes. Oddly enough they all accept that as if being a ship captain makes me God.
I was working McDs at 17 years old. I had someone yell "the customer is always right" in my face. Before the manager got there I asked the woman if she had been repeatedly dropped on her head as a baby. I was asked to turn in my uniform and leave. Determined restaurants/ retail are not for me.
I work in a one man ticket office at a small rural railway station.
When a tree fell on the tracks and nothing was going through I had the usual procession of “so do you know when…” answered politely with “sorry, no idea” until I got Mr. I'm The One.
“So it's your fault I'm stuck here, what are you going to do about it?” Shouted in a room full of other people who knew they could either get a taxi or wait.
Sorry, my patience snapped.
I started hitting myself around the head, and yelling “oh you're so bad Ian, you went and uprooted that tree just so this guy couldn't get home, you deserve smacking you heartless bastard”.
Boy was I channelling my Basil Fawlty!
He looked at me aghast and walked away.
Luckily the situation resolved minutes later and the office emptied as the driver told everyone to get back on.
I thought little of it, a funny story to tell my wife, until he returned the following evening.
He apologised, he'd had a bad day, problems at work, yammer yammer, and he shouldn't have taken it out on me.
I also apologised, but he said it was the perfect way for me to react to get him off his high horse.
Never seen him since.
That’s a fantastic story. The guy even apologized.
Now I need to watch Fawlty Towers again. You channeled Basil perfectly.
My best customer experience was at the Alaska gate in SNA years ago when the flight was cancelled. The customer ahead of me cursed out the agent and she put him on a later flight. He was cruel, so when I stepped up to the counter I said “I’m not with that guy.” The agent laughed and said she can get me home almost on time if I accept an upgrade to first class and take a flight with one stop. I did and she did.
That’s the most satisfying one I’ve heard yet.
That turns out to be a very American thing: we want to have a relationship with the companies we shop at. That's why our biggest threat is "I'm breaking up with you!" ("I'll never shop here again!"). And just like lost lovers, we often find ourselves humbly returning...(especially when we discover how few other fish there are in the sea).
That’s a very insightful analogy!
You nailed it with the riff on store apps. Like just about all apps connected to a business, they are designed and written by people who never use them. As an app developer, I'm guilty of that myself, but by listening to my users' feedback over 3 years I managed to change my flagship app from a mediocre-at-best into a gold standard for my tiny niche market.
Store apps are a source of constant joy and frustration. Some work extremely well, while others make me wander in circles for a longer time period than I ever spend in the store. I think we’re at the point where the app experiences is more important than personal interaction.
The biggest problem with store apps is the process of getting them made. Management contracts it to a development company. They assign it to a design team, which will focus on how nice it looks and how easy they think it will be to use. Once they've worked up the design it will go to the developers to actually write the code. Sometimes they nail it, but often they miss. I suspect it's because nobody actually takes the prototype app into the store and uses it while shopping. Only then do you actually see how it should work.
It’s the “We’ll fix that on the next update” method of app development.
This is brilliant. So relatable. I worked in customer service most of my life. Started at age 16. So many memories. I never dreamed it would make great comic strip material. Well done! I love that snarky little customer service girl. She says what I only wished I could’ve said out loud.
Thank you so much. That is Tabby’s superpower (as well as the person she is based on).
I like Lowes, the employees there have just stop caring at all. I like their honesty. Yes there is one in each store that give you false hope that someone cares, but the next week there dead. Old people just don't seem to hang on like they use to.
But what if they're just there doing inventory or having a store meeting and it's not actually open? They probably shouldn't answer the phone then, but sometimes they DO.
If I have to give them my phone number or put another app on my phone, forget it.
From the other side of the counter, one time I helped catch a woman who was trying to buy an expensive purse with a stolen wallet and checkbook and pass herself off as the woman in the ID. It was during a Christmas campaign where we got stickers for every store credit card we got someone to sign up for, and whoever got the most stickers each week won a prize. My reward for stopping this criminal mastermind was a whole sheet of stickers.
Companies are so generous, aren’t they? Any employee answering customer phone calls during inventory shall be confined to the freezers.
i was a bank teller for many years and lemme tell ya, customer service in banking is tricky cuz the customer is rarely right and you have to let them down veeeeery gently when telling them so. 😄
The power of service fees and math defeats most humans.
My 40+ years in banking concurs 100% with you.
hail, fellow survivor! well met! 👋😎
The real problem customers are the ones who can only talk to YOU. In this whole building of people who do the same job YOU are the person. They will wait in line for YOU and if YOU aren't spending the whole day waiting for them too, it's just game over. Might as well just die then.
Reporting from the front lines!
Ilove when the popcorn bucket comes out! If you’re going to lose 15 minutes of your life - carry on. But, if it’s going to be a double feature- get the popcorn!!
My favorite was when I was working at Lowe’s. Invariably, at least once a week, I heard “Do you work here?”. Eventually I started answering with “No, I bought the vest off eBay and I’m shoplifting. Don’t tell anybody!”
I have always maintained that it should be mandatory in law, that the first job everyone gets should be as a front facing customer service person!
Everyone should learn just how rude, nasty, irrationally angry, ignorant and infuriating customers can be! And that stupid saying about the “customer is always right” should be removed from every service companies work rules.
With a career change from retail manager to salt water fishing guide, I became Captain of my own boat, and I make sure every guest understood that I AM the boss, the ONLY boss, and what I say goes. Oddly enough they all accept that as if being a ship captain makes me God.
I was working McDs at 17 years old. I had someone yell "the customer is always right" in my face. Before the manager got there I asked the woman if she had been repeatedly dropped on her head as a baby. I was asked to turn in my uniform and leave. Determined restaurants/ retail are not for me.
That just about condenses my 35 years in retail.🤣👏
Worked in hospital IT. One day the network went down, prompting multiple rounds of variations of this conversation:
Medico- I can't print reports
Me- yeah I'm sorry the network is down
Medico - when can I print them
Me - when the network is up
Medico - when will that be
Me- when we get it fixed
Medico - how long will that take
Me - depends on how long you keep me on this call, preventing me from working on the issue.
Ten minutes later
Medico - I still can't print my reports
Me - yes, the network is still down
Medico - when will it be fixed
Me - depends on how long you keep interrupting me.
We should teach the stupidity of “how long” questions about something being fixed at the elementary level.
I laughed my ass off! I work customer service over the phone but so much was applicable and humorous.
I worked mainly in retail and these are great! Spot on!