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I really have a hard time believing that you have actually worked in a job that requires customer service. The way you frame your argument is divorced from the

I really have a hard time believing that you have actually worked in a job that requires customer service. The way you frame your argument is divorced from the reality of these kinds of jobs. This poster isn't doing bad customer service.i have no idea how you got that idea. What they're doing is stoping one bad customer from ruining other customer's experiences! The customer is not always right.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
> The customer is not always right. One of my favorite daily visits, is a site called "Not Always Right," and it has many stories like this: https://notalwaysright.com/newest/ https://notalwaysright.com/newest/
- sumtechguy 5y ago
  'acts of gord' was always amusing too.
winternett 5y ago
People who deal effectively and positively with difficult customers often find the best success in business, and endure best through bad economies. If you understand human nature, you also understand that sometimes people are just having a bad day, or feeling ignored, or on their last leg. Ignoring, or being dismissive to, any paying customer is simply bad business. If a company does that as a practice, they're probably in the wrong business. An employee that thinks ignoring customers is a good practice likely ends up working in customer service at Comcast as the pinnacle of their career. Those are not just my words, they're words from the bible of doing good business, and a lot of successful CEOs and business people would agree, except for the CEO of comcast perhaps.
- sodapopcan 5y ago
  While it's true that putting up with overly-difficult people can be good for business, this creates a race-to-the-bottom situation and there's no reason it shouldn't change. Someone's bad day is never an excuse for abusing service workers. For what it's worth, I was a service employee who deprioritized these people and I can tell you I'm certainly not working customer service at Comcast now-a-days... which is a reference I don't even understand (I know what Comcast is but ya...). Tangentially, I feel that there should be a form of conscription where everyone is forced to work at year or two of customer service in their teens. While I'm sure it wouldn't discourage everyone from being a prick, it could certainly help.
- dreamcompiler 5y ago
  > If you understand human nature, you also understand that sometimes people are just having a bad day, or feeling ignored, or on their last leg. A more thorough analysis of human nature reveals that a double-digit percentage of humanity suffers from a serious personality disorder. Some of these disorders involve taking perverse pleasure in ordering others around for no good reason. Most experienced wait staff that I know can tell the difference pretty quickly between someone having a bad day and a bully. The latter do not deserve good customer service.
- Talanes 5y ago
  >Those are not just my words, they're words from the bible of doing good business, Yeah, that's kind of the problem with your whole argument: it reads like your entire understanding of the field is from an undergrad business textbook. For one, you keep equating a job having a customer service component with the specific job of customer support as you have it in the tech field. >An employee that thinks ignoring customers is a good practice likely ends up working in customer service at Comcast as the pinnacle of their career. Waitstaff to Call Center is not a career path I've ever seen anyone take. Too orthogonal to be a desired career change (if not downright worse if you're in a good market for service industry), doesn't build upon the skillset you've already built, and doesn't have the allure of long downtime that draws people into Security and Reception work.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

> The customer is not always right. One of my favorite daily visits, is a site called "Not Always Right," and it has many stories like this: https://notalwaysright.com/newest/ https://notalwaysright.com/newest/

sumtechguy 5y ago
'acts of gord' was always amusing too.

winternett 5y ago

People who deal effectively and positively with difficult customers often find the best success in business, and endure best through bad economies. If you understand human nature, you also understand that sometimes people are just having a bad day, or feeling ignored, or on their last leg. Ignoring, or being dismissive to, any paying customer is simply bad business. If a company does that as a practice, they're probably in the wrong business. An employee that thinks ignoring customers is a good practice likely ends up working in customer service at Comcast as the pinnacle of their career. Those are not just my words, they're words from the bible of doing good business, and a lot of successful CEOs and business people would agree, except for the CEO of comcast perhaps.

sodapopcan 5y ago
While it's true that putting up with overly-difficult people can be good for business, this creates a race-to-the-bottom situation and there's no reason it shouldn't change. Someone's bad day is never an excuse for abusing service workers. For what it's worth, I was a service employee who deprioritized these people and I can tell you I'm certainly not working customer service at Comcast now-a-days... which is a reference I don't even understand (I know what Comcast is but ya...). Tangentially, I feel that there should be a form of conscription where everyone is forced to work at year or two of customer service in their teens. While I'm sure it wouldn't discourage everyone from being a prick, it could certainly help.
dreamcompiler 5y ago
> If you understand human nature, you also understand that sometimes people are just having a bad day, or feeling ignored, or on their last leg. A more thorough analysis of human nature reveals that a double-digit percentage of humanity suffers from a serious personality disorder. Some of these disorders involve taking perverse pleasure in ordering others around for no good reason. Most experienced wait staff that I know can tell the difference pretty quickly between someone having a bad day and a bully. The latter do not deserve good customer service.
Talanes 5y ago
>Those are not just my words, they're words from the bible of doing good business, Yeah, that's kind of the problem with your whole argument: it reads like your entire understanding of the field is from an undergrad business textbook. For one, you keep equating a job having a customer service component with the specific job of customer support as you have it in the tech field. >An employee that thinks ignoring customers is a good practice likely ends up working in customer service at Comcast as the pinnacle of their career. Waitstaff to Call Center is not a career path I've ever seen anyone take. Too orthogonal to be a desired career change (if not downright worse if you're in a good market for service industry), doesn't build upon the skillset you've already built, and doesn't have the allure of long downtime that draws people into Security and Reception work.