Dear Poor Lucky Me,
Why is it when I call customer service centers to complain about crabby service or a crabby product, the person always says “I’m sorry for your inconvenience”? Is that supposed to make me feel better?
I don’t want an apology, I want the situation rectified. Barring that, I’d like something for free. Is that too much to ask?
Are there a lot of people out there falling for the ole apology? Because they’re mucking it up for the rest of us.
Signed,
Nice Try, Comcast
Dear Nice Try, Comcast,
I got into a yelling match with a customer service lady at Macy’s because she had no idea what “mismatched” meant. As in: “I bought these sheets and when I opened the package they were mismatched” She replied: “I have no idea what that means”. I didn’t know what part of the complaint she was referring too. Sheets? Package? Opened? No, after a 15 minute back and forth we realized she was stuck at “mismatched”. This was a relatively articulate native English speaker. Mismatched was apparently not covered in the service employee handbook.
I’m not bitter, I’m concerned. I’m concerned that “I apologize for your inconvenience” has somehow replaced any intention to deliver adequate service. Have the suits at Comcast- or AT&T, or Macy’s or any other place we spend our money- just decided that actually servicing people is too expensive but apologies are free and thus will suffice?
You know what they say: put your apologies in one hand and shit in the other and see one fills up first. Actually that’s what I want to say to customer service people who offer me apologies but no solution to rectify my dissatisfaction. But I won’t say it! Not only because I don’t have the guts, but because I’m holding out for hope!
Do people actually fall for the apology? Yes, indeed they do. Because sometimes you know thats as good as it’s going to get. So you open your mind and your heart, remember it’s not the person on the phone’s fault that they work for a crap company, and you accept the small personal gift they give you. Well it’s not exactly personal, but if you shut your eyes and use your imagination you can think of it as a small step towards making things a little bit better. Then you have to write a stern but polite letter.
I’ve got a new set of sheets on their way from Macy’s. I’m not sure that this set won’t be mismatched, but I’m going to stay hopeful.
According to the Department of Labor, by 2014 four out of every five jobs in American will belong in the service sector. Of course that encompasses a lot of different kinds of services, including teaching and health services. But I can’t help but be disturbed by the notion that our the majority of our economy will be based on services yet it feels like the service people I encounter tend to be wildly apathetic, bored, or aggressive.
Write letters people! If we don’t put our unhappiness in writing how will anyone ever know! Message boards count too, but there is something so thrilling about complaining on a piece of stationary and sending it out into the world with a stamp. And that apology for your inconvenience should be like a gentle push to get you to take pen in hand and believe that you can make a change.
Sincerely,
Poor Lucky Me
