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I can't bear rudeness either - from anyone. But I, too, would forgive Drive-Thru Girl her illogical question.....

In my area, at least, those who man the drive-thru windows amaze me. For they spend their entire shift doing two things at the same time. Even as they take my money, gather change and hand it over, they are greeting the next disembodied customer, interpreting the Dalekspeak order coming through those headphones and entering it into the system.

I am completely incapable of multi-tasking - I can't even brush my hair and my teeth simultaneously. So I am in awe of anyone capable of doing the drive-thru job at all, let alone think logically during a shift!

[This message edited by Cally60 at 2:59 AM, June 12th (Wednesday)]

I agree that customer service isn't what it used to be - especially over the phone. Gone are the days where you talked to an actual person instead of having to navigate through the electronic maze of "press 1 to..." and to hear some robotic voice tell you "Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next representative." All the while you're on hold. Sorry, my thought is always "If it was that important to you, wouldn't I be talking to an *actual person*??"

But I've been on the other side as well, when I ran the switchboard at school. Regardless of what I personally thought of the caller, I had to be polite. I even got disciplined because one caller reported I was rude to them. How was I rude? I'd told them the party they wished to speak to was not available and would they like to speak to the next in the chain of command. No, thank you, they'd call back. They did and asked to speak to the second in command (as I'd suggested the first time) but they'd *just* stepped out. I informed the caller of this and the call ended pleasantly. Next thing I know I'm getting called on the carpet for being rude to a caller. The training I received in running the switchboard is still with me decades later as I still find it difficult to be rude on the phone, even if the caller really deserves it.

I didnt read through the whole thread...my very tired eyes didnt get out of bed with me this morning

Imo its not so much customer service as it is a lack of morals, kindness and consideration

I am in customer service. I am also a customer. Its rough on both sides of the counter/phone its rough just walking down the street (metophorically speaking). How can we expect people to behave or be polite when a) we glorify bad behavior (tv programs such as basketball wives, name your location wives, bridezilla etc). B) dont behave as such and dont teach our kids to behave properly.

Its diffucult to expect someone to exhibit manners at work when they dont in every day life.

Just my cynical view point here

T/J

name your location wives

Greatest description ever.

End T/J

I tend to agree with you, sully. It seems politeness and manners as a whole are looked on these days as a weakness. I try to be polite and mannerly since that's the way I was raised. It was the "yes ma'am/sir, no ma'am/sir".

And since society as a whole seems to look down on courtesy and manners, that would carry over into the workplace.

And since society as a whole seems to look down on courtesy and manners, that would carry over into the workplace.

You're right.

The other day while I was out running errands, a lady turned the corner and come directly into my lane...coming head on at me. I honked my horn to get her attention. She was on her phone and flipped ME off

So, not only are you in the wrong...but you're dangerous AND rude

DS that gets into the whole "stupid driver" thing for me. One of my all-time peeves. I guess in her mind you were being rude for calling her attention to a very dangerous, potentially fatal situation - you interrupted her phone call fer gossakes! How *dare* you???

As I said, I was raised to be polite and use my manners. I'll hold doors for people, give up my seat for an older (or physically impaired) person, say "please" and "thank you" and I'm sure I've gotten some strange looks because of it. I admit I've kind of slacked off on the please and thank you lately but for the most part my "training" has stuck. These days, patents just don't seem to care that they're teaching, by example, that it's okay to be rude if they're not outright telling them they *should* be or *have* to be rude to get through life.

Agree once again. Especially with the "ma'am/sir" thing - that's the way I was raised. (It seems to be more prevalent in the South, I think.)

I'll talk with my supervisor at work and she'll give me an instruction, I might say "Yes, ma'am" or "No, ma'am". Now, she's my age. But in my mind, she's a person to be respected because, well, hey, she's my boss. Others in my office think I'm weird. But you know what? I might be weird, but no one can say that I don't know my manners.

I'd have had the stuffing beaten out of me if I didn't address my parents or my grandmother as "sir" or "ma'am", I can tell you that. Today's kids? They'll laugh in your face if you even suggest it.

Definitely a sad decline.

I'm in customer service. I try so hard all day long to be nice and do what I can to fix problems. People are generally nice back.

HOWEVER Direct TV has the worst customer service EVER and I let them know. I, too, went on what was probably a recorded rant. I hate it.

Fireball, not from the south here. Raised here in the midwest. But I was taught the ma'am/sir from an early age. I addressed women as Miss (married or not) and men as Mister. I was in my teens before I called an adult by their given name but more often than not I'd slip back into the Miss/Mister. Took years for me to break that "habit."

My most hated but frequently encountered customer service pet peeves:

- When the cashier complains to me about their job, while they're ringing me up! I had a cashier telling me she was counting down the minutes til the end of her shift because she hates working there and is looking for another job. I've had a cashier on her cell phone, crying, while ringing up a pair of shoes at a DSW, complaining to whoever was on the phone that her manager yelled at her!

- In grocery stores when they will elbow you out of the way or block entire aisles to stock shelves or practically run you over pushing cargo carts, presumably stocking up for more important customers?

When I get good customer service these days I go out of my way to tell the person how much I appreciate it. On the phone, when someone actually tries really hard to help you solve your problem, I almost want to cry with gratitude. This recently happened with my health insurance tangle of bills. A nice, nice man was with me for probably 30 minutes untangling the chain of billing statements that led to the confusion. I wanted to bake the dude a cake, I was so grateful for his help. DH was like "it's kind of his job, right?" Well yes, but someone doing that these days is a wonderful surprise.

When I get good customer service these days I go out of my way to tell the person how much I appreciate it.

This. I went into a medium sized office supply chain store awhile ago. I was greeted with a smile and a hello at the door. Then as I wandered around I was greeted and asked if I needed help by every single employee I came across There had to be at least 5 of them!

The manager was the one who rang up my stuff and I made a point of saying how friendly they were and that I hadn't had service like that..well in a looonnngg time.

He said it was really important to them and with all the competition out there that they could hopefully make people come back by just being nice. And he was right! I'll go out of my way to go there now just because it's always so pleasant

When I receive good customer service I make sure to let the mgr or district mgr know and/or leave a sizable tip depending on the situation.

On the flipside, I have been on hold for 21minutes so far today. This is the 6th customer service rep in a week that is not helping on the same situation. I'm frustrated. Anyone have chocolate?

I recently had my credit card payment go to my SO's card. So my card was carrying this balance while my SO had a big fat credit from my payment! Our cards are with the same bank.

I called a rep, who was so amazing. He did a conference call with my bank (to verify that the funds had cleared) and then in like 10 seconds he had moved the payment over. The next day I got a letter of apology from my bank, and 3 days later I saw that my statement balance was paid off. I received an email for a survey. I had gotten the rep's name, employee ID, and his location. I practically wrote him a love song to the credit card company, I was so thrilled with how he handled things. There are people out there who know how to provide excellent customer service! :)

[This message edited by Dark Inertia at 4:41 PM, June 13th (Thursday)]

On the flipside of this Dh used to work in customer service for the large local gas company in their billing department. They were so strictly monitored on every call, so many touchpoints to hit that honestly it was hard to even have a conversation. You know when they just say weird things out of the blue? It's because they have to.

The company decided to save money they would not do their quarterly audit one spring. What that resulted in was all the customers on equal billing who spread equal payment throughout the year got HUGE unexpected bills because they had been undercharged half the year. I mean if you are a little old lady on fixed income, and you get a thousand dollar gas bill all of a sudden it's pretty upsetting . He felt so bad for them. They were told in no uncertain terms to LIE. To make it the customers fault. To tell them they need to read their bills more carefully and that they had x amount of days before they were cut off.

Dh was the only one of out his team who absolutely would not do it. He requested a meeting, and very thoughtfully presented his points and suggested other ways they could handle this that didn't require him to lie and strong arm. Understand this was just after d-day and he was working hard to live by his ethics and be someone he could be proud of.

They wouldn't hear of it. Asked him to sign a form stating he was refusing to do his work as directed.

He wouldn't. He was suspended and quit.

So sometimes people are trying for you and they are completely backed against a wall.

I think there are bad customers & bad employees. I've been on both sides.

What KILLS me- is when people are rude to the person who is helping them- one, they may be just doing their job- but even more than that being rude to someone isn't exactly going to motivate them. So funny,.

When I worked in the prosecutors office as an attorney- every once in awhile jerk defense attorneys would demand ! Something or another. I always thought- ill get it to you- have past never! I would get it to them about 1/2 second before the latest time I could. Funny thing about those papers that they demanded- damn if if they didn't always- somehow- get soooo out of order- I mean like someone had just dumped a bunch of documents in a box. So odd....

[This message edited by MoreThanMe at 9:03 PM, June 14th (Friday)]

What annoys me is when people take things personally.

Ive had situations where I have been upset about something which is why I called customer service. Right up front I explain to the person Im very upset about xyz and I understand its not their fault personally. Then I go into my problem. Next thing I know the person is threatening to hang up on me because I am rude to them. Wait! Didnt I begin with 'Im upset and I know its not your fault personally'? I cant tell you how many times this has happened to me.

Or as a customer service personnel people say its my fault personally that xyz took place. I dont mean by using the term "you" in general form but me directly. A few months ago I had the pleasure of unsuccesscully trying to explain to a person their missing product was not **my** fault.

Again, it comes down to manners, respect and throw some common sense into it, too.

Meta Im not suprised your h's ex-company asked him to lie. That seems to be a common theme these days, lying. Kudos to your h for standing up and doing the right thing