Yesterday, I had a moment. I was plain old angry. I was livid. Here is the background:
Monday a customer (a known high-maintenance type) phoned in, she requested a service call to have a part placed on. Although her system is in function, she considered herself/ her lab 'down.' Here is a comparable scenario, if her radio in her car doesn't work, she considers it a full on break down of her car. She would request a ride to work. So, a bit of a "mountains out of mole hills" type situation.
Anyway, doing my job, I placed the service call, did all the stuff I normally do. Once I do MY JOB, it's our field person's job to call and schedule the visit. Well, guess what - someone dropped the ball, and it was not me. However, who gets verbally assaulted? Me.
Tuesday rolls around, and she gets a co-worker of mine. She gives my co-worker an earful of how "that girl who works from home with the screaming kids" is not professional and does not do her job.
Number 1 - I am professional and I do my job, in this case I did everything I needed. AND got confirmation our field person was calling her.
Number 2- The LAST thing I need work to hear about is kids in the background. They all know it, but like anyone, I do not want to be told, "Kim you need to get the kids out of the office we've had complaints and it's simply unprofessional." It only takes one real crab-ass to wreck this gig. The real kicker is I had about 4 customers ask me about my kids and how they are doing. A majority of my true customers do care and ask, and laugh when they hear the kids. Honestly. But not Miss Bee in her Bonnet.
I did discuss all this with my manager, all is well. But, it just ticked me off. I pride myself on doing my job well and being able to keep the kids close. And this customer of less than 6 months was ready to ruin it with her statements. Her evil words have already lead to a great co-worker of mine being let go. So, you can understand my paranoia.
I was angry. SO, ANGRY. I started to write a not so nice Facebook status and stopped myself. No need to air my dirt laundry for the world. Plus, I do try to keep things more positive than negative on there. Negativity has a way of breeding more negativity. So, that had to stop with me. I ended up simply typing, "Sometimes it's hard to be the bigger/better person." That is how I needed to respond.
And then my damn Internet dropped out. This has been happening for a week. I have called the Internet people 8 times in 6 days, and even exchanged my modem. Still drops. So, now THIS adds to my already pissy attitude. I had 2 choices, let the person who answers the phone get my wrath of Kim (like Bee in Bonnet lady) or remain calm and nice and clearly explain the problem etc.
I proceeded to go with a level head; the tech and I discussed the history and such. The call ended with me getting the Service Visit I had hoped for. No raising of voice, no asking for a manager, just calm/nice/etc.
It is hard being the voice on the phone getting yelled at. We know you don't call tech support to say hello. You call us because there is a situation. We do our best to help you, we don't try to NOT HELP. If we DO NOT HELP, we will no longer have a JOB.
So, just another friendly reminder to be nice to your customer service people you call. And yes, if you act like Miss Bee in Bonnet we will not forget...we do have a "list" - Don't let your name fall on it. :)
OH, and a silly aside... remember back when I wrote about our trip to the Zoo for New Years? Click Here to Read that Post If you remember we accidentally broke a toliet paper holder. I can report, as of Saturday, it's still broken. I felt some guilt when I walked into the stall and saw that. Looks like we need to donate to the Zoo to ease my pain over their too small stall that caused the failure. Oh well... hey, look, is that the Zoo beer booth guy?!
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