"Oh." I love that word in regards to customer service. I love that word in regards to work. When you make someone say "Oh" you win.
"Oh" is them waving the white flag.
"Oh" is them shutting up.
"Oh" is them realizing you are right, they are wrong, and them being in your face is unnecessary.
I love when someone gives me their "Oh" face.
Guest: I had a terrible night. The AC doesn't work in the room and I was burning up all night. I turned the thermostat to the lowest number on the dial and it never worked!
Working Girl: Did you press ON first?
Guest: Oh.
Working Girl: Your total is 10 cents.
Customer: The machine says copies are nine cents! Why are you telling me 10!?
Working Girl: This is California, there are taxes. It is a penny more.
Customer: Oh
Guest: Your website says there is a Mexican restaurant across the street. There is no Mexican restaurant across the street. The only thing I see is Subway sandwiches.
Working Girl: That's the wrong street. Look out the front door and turn your head a quarter of an inch to the left.
Guest: Oh.
Now my absolute favorite "Oh" comes from my boss. My boss, Sandy, is a micro manager. He recognizes it and he chooses not to change it. If you've never been micromanaged the gist of it is your boss is constantly hovering over you, telling you how to do the job that you already know how to do. My boss does that times 10.
Because my boss is a micro manager he intercepts my emails. He is the Rod Woodson of my team. Every email I get he sees because he owns the domain name. The funny thing about it is when he replies to the emails, he doesn't reply to the person sending me the email. He replies to me to tell me what he thinks. This is not something I've asked for and it's something I have told him to stop doing. Most of the time he is too late and the situation has already been resolved so he is not only wasting my time by sending me an email I have to read, he is wasting his by writing it.
Email: Hi, I need a receipt emailed over to me, blah, blah, blah...
Working Girl: Okay, I went ahead and sent over a receipt.
Sandy (to me): Can you please email this person a receipt.
Working: I ALREADY DID THAT.
Sandy: Oh.
Email: Hi, I need to know if you guys have a shuttle service?
Working Girl: Unfortunately no, we do not have a shuttle service.
Sandy (To me): Can you please tell the guest we do not have a shuttle service.
Working Girl: I ALREADY DID THAT!!
Sandy: Oh.
This is daily. I like my boss and my job is alright but the reason I go into work is to get him to say "Oh." My day is accomplished if I have made him say "Oh," go back to his office and leave me the hell alone for a few hours.
Sometimes it's not always through email. A good chunk of the time his "Oh" is right in my face.
Recently one of my front desk agents was extremely sick. She didn't show up for work in the morning and the Night Auditor she was to relieve was trying to get in contact with me. She could not. My phone had turned off during the iOS 7 update over night and due to the fact that I was asleep, I had no way of knowing my cell phone was off. When I woke up in the morning I realized my phone had shut off and I turned it back on.
I had text messages from both my Night Auditor and my boss. I had a total of seven text messages. Only one of them was from my Night Auditor. The Night Auditor was actually pretty calm seeing as how she had been at work for over 8 hours. My boss on the other hand was pulling out his hair, freaking out. His text messages went like this:
"She didn't show up to work"
"Can you please answer your phone?"
"Hello"
"Is your home phone on? I'll try calling there."
"Your home phone isn't on"
"I told Amles to go into relieve her."
I laughed. It was 7:15am on a Friday morning and he was giving himself a heart attack.
When he got into work I sat down with him.
Working Girl: We obviously need to discuss this. Firstly, I told you not to call my home phone number because I disconnected it. I said to never call that number again and what did you do? Called it. Did you think I was going to answer the number that I told you I would no longer answer again. I disconnected it. As I told you when it happened.
Sandy: Oh.
Working Girl: Secondly, my phone's software was updating so my phone turned itself off which is why my phone was off. I also should not be expected to answer phone calls between the hours of midnight and 8 am whether or not my phone is off. I leave my phone on at all times because I know you spin off into another dimension if it is off but due to the update, my phone was off.
Sandy: Oh.
Working Girl: Lastly, normally when you call someone and it goes straight to voicemail, their phone is off. Why would you continue to call my cell phone if my phone if it was going straight to voicemail? And then why would you text my phone if I clearly wasn't answering your calls? Therefore if you call anyone and it doesn't ring and goes directly to voicemail, the phone is off. Which you know.
Sandy: Oh.... Well um try to keep your phone on.
Working Girl: AGAIN, not intentional.
Sandy: Oh.
That was 4 "Ohs" in a 10 minute conversation. Goal = Met.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
It's Bad Customer Service Because You're A Bad Customer
I know that most of my blog posts seem to come off as if I'm complaining but it comes off that way because that's what I'm faced with in customer service. People will find any and every reason to complain. I actually find it funny, which is why I blog. If you work in customer service (especially if you've ever worked in a hotel where the industry is 98% customer service) then you understand that you have to play the hand you're dealt.
People who work in customer service know exactly what they are doing. When they look at you blankly, when they respond in a monotone voice, and when they regurgitate the robotic answers to your complaints ("Thanks for bringing that to our attention," "We apologize for the inconvenience," "We will look into that for you.") All of this is premeditated. We know that you are being ridiculous and we have to calm you down, so we say whatever we can to appease you and get you out of our faces without making you cry.
I, for example, was working at the OTHER Office Supply Store when a woman came in and asked for information about furniture. I told her that I can have someone meet her on the furniture pad. She wanted to know why I couldn't give her the information seeing as how I was at customer service. I told her that my department was not customer service but it was the copy station but I could get someone to answer her questions who knew more than I did. She then walked up to my manager, complained about me, my "bad customer service," and my not knowing the information and demanded I be fired. My manager laughed and told her the same thing that I did. As a copy station employee I can tell you where things are in the store but as far as actual information about the products it is best to ask an expert. I would not be fired for doing my job correctly. She stormed off in a huff.
Her being upset was not my fault. Her not getting her furniture questions answered was not my fault. Her not understanding the basic options I was giving her was her fault. She was a bad customer who experienced bad customer service. I look at the situation like this:
You have questions about a new episode of Big Brother. So you ask someone who has never watched an episode of Big Brother. They tell you that they know someone who would definitely be able to answer every question you have about Big Brother. Then you get upset at them for not being able to answer your questions and you walk away complaining. That is insane.
I recently was doing my usual rounds of looking at the reviews of the hotel that I can respond to. I get to a review that says:
I am handicapped. I requested a first floor room and was told there were no first floor rooms so I was put on the second floor. Very, very, very unsatisfied with my stay.
I laughed so hard. She wanted a first floor room, she didn't get one and that RUINED her entire 4 night stay. Nothing about the customer service, nothing about the cleanliness, and nothing about the food. Just the fact that you were one floor above your ideal location made your stay unsatisfactory? That doesn't make any sense. Then I remembered who the guest was.
This guest was a very large woman. Not large enough to have a TLC special about her or to need one of those motorized scooters, but definitely considered obese. She came into the hotel and walked right up to her room with no complaint. When she got up there she realized that she had either lost her key or her key wasn't working. She uses her cell phone to call the front desk to tell the front desk that she cannot get into her room. The front desk agent says that it is not a problem and she can make her a new key but she has to come down to the front desk to retrieve it. When the woman comes down she says she is tired, handicapped and someone should've just come upstairs to let her into the room. The front desk agent then explains that not only are front desk agents not allowed to leave the front desk area, every guest must be verified by ID in order to make a new key. She felt that the policy was stupid, claimed that this situation was an example of bad customer service, complained and went back upstairs.
There are a few points that need to be addressed here:
1. She wasn't handicapped, she was fat. Being fat is not and should not be a handicap. If she was truly handicapped she could've reserved a handicapped room ON THE FIRST FLOOR. But she didn't because she didn't need one. Her being obese is not something that can't be changed. She was tired and winded from walking to the elevator and taking it 1 floor down.
2. There are 6 rooms on the first floor and 22 on all the other floors. There is a much greater chance that you will be on an upper floor. It just so happens that the only room we had available for her was on the 2nd floor.
3. The definition of a request is the act of asking for something. In life, do you always get what you ask for? Let's try: CAN I PLEASE GET NBA PLAYER BLAKE GRIFFIN TO WALK INTO THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW AND ASK ME TO MARRY HIM!? ..... Didn't happen, but I'll keep you posted.
4. You wanted the front desk agent to just let you into the room? Do you realize if we did that for everyone we would let people, guests or not, into any room they wanted to. Regardless of whether or not it is their room. Every day we get someone walking up to us and they are sure they are in room 318 when they are in 315, they're sure they are in 101 when they are in 110. That is the reason we can't just give out room keys to whatever room you believe you're in, even if you're right. We have to check your ID, it is a policy. The policy isn't stupid, you are just lazy.
Most of the time when people complain of "bad customer service," it is because you want the employee to do something they can't do, something that is against policy, something that will get them fired. You are experiencing bad customer service because you're a bad customer. As a self appointed leader of the irritated customer service employees, if you work with us we will work with you. We like to make people happy, we like to be told that we've been helpful but we don't like to be told that because we aren't cutting up your steak for you and feeding it to you that we are providing bad customer service. We are providing you the service that you deserve, which is limited.
People who work in customer service know exactly what they are doing. When they look at you blankly, when they respond in a monotone voice, and when they regurgitate the robotic answers to your complaints ("Thanks for bringing that to our attention," "We apologize for the inconvenience," "We will look into that for you.") All of this is premeditated. We know that you are being ridiculous and we have to calm you down, so we say whatever we can to appease you and get you out of our faces without making you cry.
I, for example, was working at the OTHER Office Supply Store when a woman came in and asked for information about furniture. I told her that I can have someone meet her on the furniture pad. She wanted to know why I couldn't give her the information seeing as how I was at customer service. I told her that my department was not customer service but it was the copy station but I could get someone to answer her questions who knew more than I did. She then walked up to my manager, complained about me, my "bad customer service," and my not knowing the information and demanded I be fired. My manager laughed and told her the same thing that I did. As a copy station employee I can tell you where things are in the store but as far as actual information about the products it is best to ask an expert. I would not be fired for doing my job correctly. She stormed off in a huff.
Her being upset was not my fault. Her not getting her furniture questions answered was not my fault. Her not understanding the basic options I was giving her was her fault. She was a bad customer who experienced bad customer service. I look at the situation like this:
You have questions about a new episode of Big Brother. So you ask someone who has never watched an episode of Big Brother. They tell you that they know someone who would definitely be able to answer every question you have about Big Brother. Then you get upset at them for not being able to answer your questions and you walk away complaining. That is insane.
I recently was doing my usual rounds of looking at the reviews of the hotel that I can respond to. I get to a review that says:
I am handicapped. I requested a first floor room and was told there were no first floor rooms so I was put on the second floor. Very, very, very unsatisfied with my stay.
I laughed so hard. She wanted a first floor room, she didn't get one and that RUINED her entire 4 night stay. Nothing about the customer service, nothing about the cleanliness, and nothing about the food. Just the fact that you were one floor above your ideal location made your stay unsatisfactory? That doesn't make any sense. Then I remembered who the guest was.
This guest was a very large woman. Not large enough to have a TLC special about her or to need one of those motorized scooters, but definitely considered obese. She came into the hotel and walked right up to her room with no complaint. When she got up there she realized that she had either lost her key or her key wasn't working. She uses her cell phone to call the front desk to tell the front desk that she cannot get into her room. The front desk agent says that it is not a problem and she can make her a new key but she has to come down to the front desk to retrieve it. When the woman comes down she says she is tired, handicapped and someone should've just come upstairs to let her into the room. The front desk agent then explains that not only are front desk agents not allowed to leave the front desk area, every guest must be verified by ID in order to make a new key. She felt that the policy was stupid, claimed that this situation was an example of bad customer service, complained and went back upstairs.
There are a few points that need to be addressed here:
1. She wasn't handicapped, she was fat. Being fat is not and should not be a handicap. If she was truly handicapped she could've reserved a handicapped room ON THE FIRST FLOOR. But she didn't because she didn't need one. Her being obese is not something that can't be changed. She was tired and winded from walking to the elevator and taking it 1 floor down.
2. There are 6 rooms on the first floor and 22 on all the other floors. There is a much greater chance that you will be on an upper floor. It just so happens that the only room we had available for her was on the 2nd floor.
3. The definition of a request is the act of asking for something. In life, do you always get what you ask for? Let's try: CAN I PLEASE GET NBA PLAYER BLAKE GRIFFIN TO WALK INTO THIS ROOM RIGHT NOW AND ASK ME TO MARRY HIM!? ..... Didn't happen, but I'll keep you posted.
4. You wanted the front desk agent to just let you into the room? Do you realize if we did that for everyone we would let people, guests or not, into any room they wanted to. Regardless of whether or not it is their room. Every day we get someone walking up to us and they are sure they are in room 318 when they are in 315, they're sure they are in 101 when they are in 110. That is the reason we can't just give out room keys to whatever room you believe you're in, even if you're right. We have to check your ID, it is a policy. The policy isn't stupid, you are just lazy.
Most of the time when people complain of "bad customer service," it is because you want the employee to do something they can't do, something that is against policy, something that will get them fired. You are experiencing bad customer service because you're a bad customer. As a self appointed leader of the irritated customer service employees, if you work with us we will work with you. We like to make people happy, we like to be told that we've been helpful but we don't like to be told that because we aren't cutting up your steak for you and feeding it to you that we are providing bad customer service. We are providing you the service that you deserve, which is limited.
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