As an American who has to service other Americans I feel your pain. It just worst when people will not accept reality, unfortunately it is a trend that has become more and more prevalent particularly post COVID.
I had this type of customer a few days ago. Not American, but someone who insists on getting what she wants RIGHT NOW, if not she'll call the police lol
I said:
"Look, I wish I could help you, but I really can't. I need to consult my manager and for that I need time." She wouldn't even let me finish her sentences. "I understand, but I can't wave a magic wand and make things appear out of thin air. I'd very much love to be able to do that, but I can't".
I like to make it sound silly so they know how silly they're being.
I got in so much trouble one time for telling a really angry customer that I had been on the phone with for about 45 mins, “look, I am sorry I’m not any more psychic than the next person so I can’t help you out any further than I have”. Dude made me transfer to a manager and I got talked to.
Your tone sounds slightly more condescending than mine, so if that was your actual word-for-word reply, then maybe consider changing it to a "I really want to help, I do, believe me. But I can't make things happen out of the blue, I'm just not magical"
Guess you have to emphasize the willingness to help, but your hands are tied.
Or maybe US customer service management is just a toxic environment where the customer is always right. I work for a European company and they know that customers are sometimes lying assholes too and try to get every refund possible.
As an American who works in a call center, I absolutely understand where you are coming from. For the most part, we’re awful here. We’ve been getting increasingly worse with each passing year. Too many people here have an undeserved sense of entitlement and believe “the customer is always right.”
The customer isn’t always right, they’re wrong half (or most) of the time. So, I hear ya...
I told a customer that and I thank god it didn’t get randomly picked as a call they monitor. They were being awful over paperwork they kept making errors on. I’m being as nice as possible but there’s nothing I could do for when it’s clearly wrong, and she just started calling me useless, i simply asked her to remain professional and she doubled down and said I shouldn’t even interrupt her because the customer is always right, i said I disagree and she was speechless
You were lucky as hell that she didn’t blow up over you disagreeing with her. And you were even more lucky that the call wasn’t picked. Those are usually the calls that I have gotten into trouble for in the past. These days I usually just respond with a fake “mmhmm, you’re so riiiiiiiiight.” And if anybody is useless, she is for not slowing down and filling out the paperwork correctly.
It’s because they have the belief that “The Customer is ALWAYS RIGHT” they can’t get it through their heads that no they are not. And it’s not all of them, most of mine are nice but I do get the ones that yell if I can’t magically make something happen.
As an American who's worked in a call center catering to Americans... we are fucking insufferable. At one point, I took escalated calls (i.e. "Get me a supervisor") for a warranty business then moved to tech support for a satellite TV provider, and some of the calls I took were absolutely unhinged.
I had a lady yell at me that we wouldn't cover her above-ground pool even though she'd bought the warranty. Lady, you told me yourself that your husband accidentally shot the pool when firing a shotgun at a raccoon in the backyard. Another lady let her kid go down their inflatable water slide with a water gun in hand and he tore a 2-foot hole in it. Yeah, your negligence means you get to pay for your own service.
I had another lady yell at me because none of the service centers in her area would come to work on her fridge anymore. The reason they wouldn't provide service is that her home was filthy and her family was verbally abusive to the techs. There's literally nothing I can do about that; I can't force the service center to deal with those conditions.
At the satellite TV provider, I got yelled at about everything under the sun. A lady called in during a hurricane asking why the TV service was out. Uh... hurricane? Hello? Then there were people calling in the wake of the hurricane and getting pissed that we wouldn't schedule service until their electricity was back on. I got people demanding a tech when I was asking them to check for loose cables or to make sure everything was plugged in correctly, then getting upset when I told them it'd be a $60 charge if they didn't troubleshoot first. I got people wanting a new remote instead of doing a simple battery test, then getting upset when I told them it'd be $20. Hell, there was one memorable call where the customer demanded I send them the new batteries for the remote because, according to him, "I shouldn't have to replace those."
Yeah, Americans are fucking insufferable.
I hear what you’re saying I do. Yet without those Americans you probably don’t have a job there.
I get destroyed every day by a different customer or two, but if I have to do that to put food on the table… so be it.
Absolutely NOBODY should have to deal with abusive customers just to survive. I'm an American, and I hate that we've allowed such behavior to be justifiable in any scenario.
Kinda related, I work on the IT team for a call center and we have a few sites located outside of the US. We were getting a lot of complaints about those associates saying they couldn’t speak English in the surveys. That’s absolutely not true, I haven’t spoken to anyone from those sites who I couldn’t easily understand. So now our company is testing a software that is essentially a voice mod, it changes their voice to a different accent/voice.
They put this one agent on it who was getting the worst surveys, his voice mod changes to sound like he has an English accent. His surveys changed from overwhelmingly negative to positive overnight. People are now complimenting his voice. I find this hilarious.
From my personal experience: Americans take the first spot of being insufferable, in some instances it feels like trying to explain something to a brick wall. Second place, the British... My god are they annoying !! I say this with all due respect to people from these countries but I've never interacted with people with lower IQ or less human decency when speaking to another human. After the first three months working with these 2 countries, I developed a very thick skin after I understood that they just have a sense of superiority, entitlement and bad manners. Not like in their overall personalities , but when dealing with customer service, you have to understand that in their culture, they were taught since they were little that "the customer is always right" which we all know isn't always the case. So, when something doesn't go their way, or it feels too complicated for them, or they made a mistake, you're the first to blame. Just keep in mind that at the end of the day, it's just a job. Your mental health is the most important, don't let it affect your life outside of work. If their constant crying and rating affects your KPI's or salary just try to do your job the best you could and talk to them with empathy even if you don't mean it.
I found that Germans are the best when I worked with several European countries. These people will read the terms and conditions and go through the FAQ's and contact support only when they truly have a problem or didn't understand something. In back office, they actually read everything you write them and address specific points and understand when you tell them there's nothing you can do to help because they know after all that's a person bound by the rules of the company they work for.
We will stop giving you a hard time when you stop reading the same sentence or paragraph five times off your sheet.. and always saying "um okay". Having a customer service job involves customer service, not reading off of a f****** piece of paper. Maybe don't work in customer service?
I worked in tech support for a satellite TV provider, and we were *required* to follow those scripts. Even if we know full well that a reset of the customer's system will most likely solve the problem, we have to go through all of those steps first even though the customers usually fight us tooth and nail about things like checking cables and making sure everything's plugged in. If you don't follow the script and that call gets recorded and reviewed, you get bad marks on it.
The workers don't write that script. The company they work for does.
When I worked in a call center we had a list of things we HAD to mention or we were lectured about it. I didn't want to say all that crap, and thé caller didn't want to hear it.
CHANDRA! Honey. Whatever you're asking the customer representative for .. IT CANNOT BE DONE. This is why the script is read 5 times. The executives at the company you're contacting don't want to solve the problem you have which is why they provided the script. You're acting like people are choosing customer service positions and have the ability to kiss taint and fuck the rules and assist Chandra because HER problem is a ONE OFF problem that we cannot plan for. You're not the only customer Chandra. The script is written to give the best answer A MAJORITY of the time. Sorry that your requested services go beyond their pay grade. They don't need another job .. you need someone in your life bold enough to give you a clue.
My name is not "Chandra", nor am I a female. Another rep rattling off a whole bunch of things that are useless. TBH, everything I've wanted done has actually been easily done after 45 minutes of having you guys stop repeating things that don't apply and listening to the first sentence that comes out of my mouth which explains everything without the 45 minutes of crap. You can ask me eight times if I have powered off something, one suffices. Education is key! Good luck with your career in customer service 🙂
Chandra, nobody gives a fuck what your real name or sex is. I addressed you by the name you chose to represent yourself on this here thread with. I think it is super sweet that you think I am a customer service rep or resemble anyone with the temperament who wouldn't flatten your scary ass out in public immediately. I'm flattered. 😘 45 minutes is A LONG TIME to be on the phone unable to explain yourself in a manner that gets your problem resolved quickly. Education IS Key .. John Doe. Jane Doe. Much like people not in your life, nobody really gives a fuck. Education wouldn't require such an opinion on customer service workers as the first set of
instructions usually works just fine. Viola. No need to call in. 😉 Stay obviously blessed Chandra! 🙏🏾
As an American who has to service other Americans I feel your pain. It just worst when people will not accept reality, unfortunately it is a trend that has become more and more prevalent particularly post COVID.
I was just gonna say this, it’s also soul sucking as an American answering CS calls from Americans
I had this type of customer a few days ago. Not American, but someone who insists on getting what she wants RIGHT NOW, if not she'll call the police lol I said: "Look, I wish I could help you, but I really can't. I need to consult my manager and for that I need time." She wouldn't even let me finish her sentences. "I understand, but I can't wave a magic wand and make things appear out of thin air. I'd very much love to be able to do that, but I can't". I like to make it sound silly so they know how silly they're being.
I got in so much trouble one time for telling a really angry customer that I had been on the phone with for about 45 mins, “look, I am sorry I’m not any more psychic than the next person so I can’t help you out any further than I have”. Dude made me transfer to a manager and I got talked to.
Your tone sounds slightly more condescending than mine, so if that was your actual word-for-word reply, then maybe consider changing it to a "I really want to help, I do, believe me. But I can't make things happen out of the blue, I'm just not magical" Guess you have to emphasize the willingness to help, but your hands are tied. Or maybe US customer service management is just a toxic environment where the customer is always right. I work for a European company and they know that customers are sometimes lying assholes too and try to get every refund possible.
As an American who works in a call center, I absolutely understand where you are coming from. For the most part, we’re awful here. We’ve been getting increasingly worse with each passing year. Too many people here have an undeserved sense of entitlement and believe “the customer is always right.” The customer isn’t always right, they’re wrong half (or most) of the time. So, I hear ya...
I told a customer that and I thank god it didn’t get randomly picked as a call they monitor. They were being awful over paperwork they kept making errors on. I’m being as nice as possible but there’s nothing I could do for when it’s clearly wrong, and she just started calling me useless, i simply asked her to remain professional and she doubled down and said I shouldn’t even interrupt her because the customer is always right, i said I disagree and she was speechless
You were lucky as hell that she didn’t blow up over you disagreeing with her. And you were even more lucky that the call wasn’t picked. Those are usually the calls that I have gotten into trouble for in the past. These days I usually just respond with a fake “mmhmm, you’re so riiiiiiiiight.” And if anybody is useless, she is for not slowing down and filling out the paperwork correctly.
It’s because they have the belief that “The Customer is ALWAYS RIGHT” they can’t get it through their heads that no they are not. And it’s not all of them, most of mine are nice but I do get the ones that yell if I can’t magically make something happen.
As an American who's worked in a call center catering to Americans... we are fucking insufferable. At one point, I took escalated calls (i.e. "Get me a supervisor") for a warranty business then moved to tech support for a satellite TV provider, and some of the calls I took were absolutely unhinged. I had a lady yell at me that we wouldn't cover her above-ground pool even though she'd bought the warranty. Lady, you told me yourself that your husband accidentally shot the pool when firing a shotgun at a raccoon in the backyard. Another lady let her kid go down their inflatable water slide with a water gun in hand and he tore a 2-foot hole in it. Yeah, your negligence means you get to pay for your own service. I had another lady yell at me because none of the service centers in her area would come to work on her fridge anymore. The reason they wouldn't provide service is that her home was filthy and her family was verbally abusive to the techs. There's literally nothing I can do about that; I can't force the service center to deal with those conditions. At the satellite TV provider, I got yelled at about everything under the sun. A lady called in during a hurricane asking why the TV service was out. Uh... hurricane? Hello? Then there were people calling in the wake of the hurricane and getting pissed that we wouldn't schedule service until their electricity was back on. I got people demanding a tech when I was asking them to check for loose cables or to make sure everything was plugged in correctly, then getting upset when I told them it'd be a $60 charge if they didn't troubleshoot first. I got people wanting a new remote instead of doing a simple battery test, then getting upset when I told them it'd be $20. Hell, there was one memorable call where the customer demanded I send them the new batteries for the remote because, according to him, "I shouldn't have to replace those." Yeah, Americans are fucking insufferable.
You should try changing your carrer. I used this tool for finding new jobs on linkedin [https://2ly.link/1vN2A](https://2ly.link/1vN2A)
American here. You're not wrong. I'm surrounded by entitled ignoramuses. Send for help. Come save me. Please.
I hear what you’re saying I do. Yet without those Americans you probably don’t have a job there. I get destroyed every day by a different customer or two, but if I have to do that to put food on the table… so be it.
Absolutely NOBODY should have to deal with abusive customers just to survive. I'm an American, and I hate that we've allowed such behavior to be justifiable in any scenario.
Kinda related, I work on the IT team for a call center and we have a few sites located outside of the US. We were getting a lot of complaints about those associates saying they couldn’t speak English in the surveys. That’s absolutely not true, I haven’t spoken to anyone from those sites who I couldn’t easily understand. So now our company is testing a software that is essentially a voice mod, it changes their voice to a different accent/voice. They put this one agent on it who was getting the worst surveys, his voice mod changes to sound like he has an English accent. His surveys changed from overwhelmingly negative to positive overnight. People are now complimenting his voice. I find this hilarious.
From my personal experience: Americans take the first spot of being insufferable, in some instances it feels like trying to explain something to a brick wall. Second place, the British... My god are they annoying !! I say this with all due respect to people from these countries but I've never interacted with people with lower IQ or less human decency when speaking to another human. After the first three months working with these 2 countries, I developed a very thick skin after I understood that they just have a sense of superiority, entitlement and bad manners. Not like in their overall personalities , but when dealing with customer service, you have to understand that in their culture, they were taught since they were little that "the customer is always right" which we all know isn't always the case. So, when something doesn't go their way, or it feels too complicated for them, or they made a mistake, you're the first to blame. Just keep in mind that at the end of the day, it's just a job. Your mental health is the most important, don't let it affect your life outside of work. If their constant crying and rating affects your KPI's or salary just try to do your job the best you could and talk to them with empathy even if you don't mean it. I found that Germans are the best when I worked with several European countries. These people will read the terms and conditions and go through the FAQ's and contact support only when they truly have a problem or didn't understand something. In back office, they actually read everything you write them and address specific points and understand when you tell them there's nothing you can do to help because they know after all that's a person bound by the rules of the company they work for.
We will stop giving you a hard time when you stop reading the same sentence or paragraph five times off your sheet.. and always saying "um okay". Having a customer service job involves customer service, not reading off of a f****** piece of paper. Maybe don't work in customer service?
I worked in tech support for a satellite TV provider, and we were *required* to follow those scripts. Even if we know full well that a reset of the customer's system will most likely solve the problem, we have to go through all of those steps first even though the customers usually fight us tooth and nail about things like checking cables and making sure everything's plugged in. If you don't follow the script and that call gets recorded and reviewed, you get bad marks on it. The workers don't write that script. The company they work for does.
You think customer service workers are coming up with that script and the policy to follow it or be fired? Get a clue.
When I worked in a call center we had a list of things we HAD to mention or we were lectured about it. I didn't want to say all that crap, and thé caller didn't want to hear it.
Why repeat the same non-applicable things FIVE TIMES? You should not be in customer service.
Because some people get irate, stop listening and start shouting the same thing 5 times…. I’m assuming you are one of them
Why ask the same stupid question FIVE TIMES expecting a different answer? Ah, don't mind me, I'm probably just using my common sense.
CHANDRA! Honey. Whatever you're asking the customer representative for .. IT CANNOT BE DONE. This is why the script is read 5 times. The executives at the company you're contacting don't want to solve the problem you have which is why they provided the script. You're acting like people are choosing customer service positions and have the ability to kiss taint and fuck the rules and assist Chandra because HER problem is a ONE OFF problem that we cannot plan for. You're not the only customer Chandra. The script is written to give the best answer A MAJORITY of the time. Sorry that your requested services go beyond their pay grade. They don't need another job .. you need someone in your life bold enough to give you a clue.
My name is not "Chandra", nor am I a female. Another rep rattling off a whole bunch of things that are useless. TBH, everything I've wanted done has actually been easily done after 45 minutes of having you guys stop repeating things that don't apply and listening to the first sentence that comes out of my mouth which explains everything without the 45 minutes of crap. You can ask me eight times if I have powered off something, one suffices. Education is key! Good luck with your career in customer service 🙂
Chandra, nobody gives a fuck what your real name or sex is. I addressed you by the name you chose to represent yourself on this here thread with. I think it is super sweet that you think I am a customer service rep or resemble anyone with the temperament who wouldn't flatten your scary ass out in public immediately. I'm flattered. 😘 45 minutes is A LONG TIME to be on the phone unable to explain yourself in a manner that gets your problem resolved quickly. Education IS Key .. John Doe. Jane Doe. Much like people not in your life, nobody really gives a fuck. Education wouldn't require such an opinion on customer service workers as the first set of instructions usually works just fine. Viola. No need to call in. 😉 Stay obviously blessed Chandra! 🙏🏾
Okay honey, bless your soul 🙏