For the old farts who pay their bills w/live people.

[Brian37]

Yea, call me an old fart. I hate automated push button phone prompts, and while voice command is better than it has been, I don't do anything financially on line.

But even outside paying bills, say out shopping or at a restaurant, the standard line from staff is, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

The standard line from the customer is, "No, I am fine", or "Can I get a doggie bag for this?"

My favorite line paying voice to voice on the phone with a live person when they ask me, "Is there anything else I can help you with?" I love to respond, "Can you get me a date with Angelina Jolie?" I always get a laugh with that line. 

What other line have you or would you use after paying for a service in person or over the phone when the employee asks you if there is anything else?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If someone asks for my birthday I tell them they can have it, I'll get a newer one.

OR

"Jan. 0, 0000, or so Mom said. I was very young when I born so I have to take her word for it." (Date redacted 'cause I don't trust you, you and you.)

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I don’t do live bill pay, but when someone on the phone asks if they can do anything else for me, I usually say something like, ‘No, thank you. You’ve been very helpful.’

Boru

[A. Secular Human]

I always ask them their general location, and the weather. Most are more than happy to have a somewhat more "personal" conversation. Plus, most seem to have an attitude that since *I* started it, it's OK for them to chat as long as I like. I've had some interesting convos with strangers from across the country that way.

Life's short.

[Brian37]

I always ask them their general location, and the weather.  Most are more than happy to have a somewhat more "personal" conversation.  Plus, most seem to have an attitude that since *I* started it, it's OK for them to chat as long as I like.  I've had some interesting convos with strangers from across the country that way.

Life's short.

I have never worked in a call center. But just like in person counter interaction with stressed out workers, they love it when you crack a joke to let them know they have a stressful job. 

My best friend briefly moved from Oklahoma to Denver and got a job at a satellite TV provider. Those companies advertise like everything is cheap and you can watch billions of channels for nothing, but rely on the hope of the consumers falling for cheap, but know they will forget about the fine print. When he told me he got a job there, I knew he was going to hate it because he has empathy for others. 

Even in person brick and mortar in person stores, lots of giant corporations cut labor, and expect the employee to perform as super heros, and they really don't care if they pit the customer against the low level employee, when the business model and CEO marketing is what the real issue is.

Point is, when I deal with call centers in person, just like having dealt with customers in a snow storm or hurricane, having worked pizza delivery, I really try to put the employee at ease and try to brighten their day with a silly joke. I think I got that mentality from the TV show MASH.  BJ and Hawkeye took their jobs seriously, but they also knew that the higher ups were the ones pulling the strings and sometimes those higher ups simply were so disconnected from what the low level employees went through, they had to use humor to cope.

Having been yelled at as a low level employee countless times, over things that were beyond my control, when I deal with those, especially where a bill is involved, be it private or even public utility bill, I know that these poor folks get shit more often than not for things that are not their fault. So if you can crack a joke to cut the tension, it helps them get through the day.

[Rhizomorph13]

I just re-read the title of this post and I can say that paying with live people is very difficult...

they don't fit in my wallet as well as money does! /dadjoke

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I just re-read the title of this post and I can say that paying with live people is very difficult...

they don't fit in my wallet as well as money does! /dadjoke

I was temporarily in Charleston, South Carolina, "a few years ago", and visited a building they had carefully preserved, the old slave mart.

[Rhizomorph13]

I just re-read the title of this post and I can say that paying with live people is very difficult...

they don't fit in my wallet as well as money does! /dadjoke

I was temporarily in Charleston, South Carolina, "a few years ago", and visited a building they had carefully preserved, the old slave mart.

Reminiscing about the days of old.

[A. Secular Human]

I always ask them their general location, and the weather.  Most are more than happy to have a somewhat more "personal" conversation.  Plus, most seem to have an attitude that since *I* started it, it's OK for them to chat as long as I like.  I've had some interesting convos with strangers from across the country that way.

Life's short.

I have never worked in a call center. But just like in person counter interaction with stressed out workers, they love it when you crack a joke to let them know they have a stressful job. 

My best friend briefly moved from Oklahoma to Denver and got a job at a satellite TV provider. Those companies advertise like everything is cheap and you can watch billions of channels for nothing, but rely on the hope of the consumers falling for cheap, but know they will forget about the fine print. When he told me he got a job there, I knew he was going to hate it because he has empathy for others. 

Even in person brick and mortar in person stores, lots of giant corporations cut labor, and expect the employee to perform as super heros, and they really don't care if they pit the customer against the low level employee, when the business model and CEO marketing is what the real issue is.

Point is, when I deal with call centers in person, just like having dealt with customers in a snow storm or hurricane, having worked pizza delivery, I really try to put the employee at ease and try to brighten their day with a silly joke. I think I got that mentality from the TV show MASH.  BJ and Hawkeye took their jobs seriously, but they also knew that the higher ups were the ones pulling the strings and sometimes those higher ups simply were so disconnected from what the low level employees went through, they had to use humor to cope.

Having been yelled at as a low level employee countless times, over things that were beyond my control, when I deal with those, especially where a bill is involved, be it private or even public utility bill, I know that these poor folks get shit more often than not for things that are not their fault. So if you can crack a joke to cut the tension, it helps them get through the day.

I've always had a lot of empathy for customer service people.  After working paper routes from 12-16 years old, I got a "real" job in a retail discount store.  In addition to running a cash register, schlepping carts, and selling patio furniture, I regularly worked the "Courtesy Desk" for returns and complaints.  I was good at it, so mgt put me there often.  We'd get the occasional asshole, but for the most part, my friendly, smiling demeanor would disarm people coming in expecting conflict.

As for the assholes, I got pretty good at saying "fuck you very much" quickly, with a sincere-looking smile, and in such a fashion that they were never sure what I said, because it was so close to "thank you very much".  The workers on the registers closest to me looked forward to my days "on the desk", because they knew it would be entertaining.

Heck, it made everybody's day go by more quickly, which is what it's all about, in retail.  I actually savor those days.

"Work" is what you make of it...no matter what you do.  This philosophy served me well through careers in R&D Engineering (15 yrs) and teaching high school chem and physics (20 yrs).  I retired at 58 before the lamentable decline I observed far too many other teachers (and students!) suffer.

If I was a religious person, I'd probably say I was blessed, but it really came down to a life of good, honest work.

I'd be fine with dying tomorrow...but I'd rather not.  Living is too much fucking fun!

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

When customer service actually MEANT something:





Boru