Unprofessional Help Desk Employee and a Strange Event

Yeah everyday, creditors are bombarding my phone (Unfortunately true story). Anyways I wrote an article about how employees at Customer Service today really stink. You know if they totally hate their job, Quit darn it there are so many willing and more courteous people willing to take the job in an instant.

The worst thing that I ever had a professional service person tell me to do was back when my toaster had a problem, and the man on the phone told me to jam a fork in it. Did he think I wanted to get the last shock of my life or what?

I can relate completely to what you say and also the analysis in your first reply ‘Call center work is now probably regarded work for people without brains and future. ..’ Everytime I call up, I get to hear some smart young person on the other end, always in a hurry to hang up after giving you the usual ‘complain number’ or if you probe a bit deeper, they either are not willing to talk or don’t know more about it themselves and they just thrown around attitude to hide their ineptitude. I feel more than the youth and inexperienced factor, it’s the lack of seriousness in making a proper career out of this job. Its mostly the young generation who like to earn some side money, so they are not really bothered with manners and learning the proper way of helping or even speaking properly to assuage the concerns of the aggrieved customer. Companies too prefer these young people as they are easily replaceable and don’t demand very high salary. Regarding brains and future…this is sad but true, too. Many people who have not been able to do much for themselves but can just speak a little well, look at call centres for an easy job opening. They might stay or might not, but it gives them some exposure to an office life yet the job load is not too much. One just has to parrot the same script for almost anything.

You will see this across the board I am afraid. Customer service has gone down the drain. In many cases, companies are hiring young people so that they actually have a body in their offices, however, the companies are not seeing the whole picture. It seems that the generations of today, feel that they should be able to get a pay check and not actually work for it. I have seen this time and again, even with my own child, he is 18 and has been working for a little over 6 months now, even he doesn't get the full picture. His bosses are constantly telling him to do things. Or better yet, be nice to the customers. It is as if all of our teachings have gone down the drain and nothing seems to be sinking into the minds of these young adults. Where did we go wrong?

Give the person a chance. He/she may be new in the field. Although he/she may have undergone training being a helpdesk, after all, he/she may still stumble during their first call experience. Cool down and take a deep breathe.