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The corollary to this is that companies also need to treat their customers as people. Too often when I call customer service I'm talking to a robot who can bar
by dpifke 17y ago
The corollary to this is that companies also need to treat their customers as people. Too often when I call customer service I'm talking to a robot who can barely speak my language well enough to coherently read the set-in-stone, no exceptions, this-is-how-it-is policy off of his computer screen. His claiming to be named "Bob" doesn't make him any more of a real human being to me.
And while I wouldn't be uncivil (or condone as much) towards "Bob," both sides of the conversation need to avoid dehumanizing each other. I wonder if the client in Derek's first example would have been such an ass towards
Sara if large companies hadn't preconditioned us to expect mechanical, uncaring customer service.
- jnoller 17y agoYes. Completely agreed; companies need to treat customers as people. Treating customer like annoyances, metrics or just "something to be dealt with" helps lead to customers who call up or contact you immediately on the attack.
- inimino 17y agoI find it odd that you go on to say "both sides of the conversation need to avoid dehumanizing each other", after "a robot" and "[not] a real human being to me".
- dpifke 17y agoWhat's odd in starting with an example as to why it's easy to dehumanize someone in customer service and then saying not to do it? The choice in phrasing and imagery was intentional, if perhaps a bit clumsy.