Conclusion? People suck
10 March 2005 at 5:28 pm

I've actually been working at work these past few days and have come to a conclusion:

It is no less frustrating to be on the receiving end of customer service than it is to be on the giving end.

I've worked many a customer service job: hostess, retail sales associate, bank teller. I did not enjoy either of those jobs, but the one shred of happiness and sense of success that I received from those jobs is when I could tell that I'd made a person's day. While working as a hostess, a group of mentally handicapped people came in with a chaperone and upon leaving, expressed how thrilled they were with the restaurant and asked that I ask the owner if they could open one up closer to their town (they traveled for upwards of an hour to eat there). I mean, I didn't make their food or serve them, but it was nice knowing I was part of making someone's day. As a sales associate at the hoity toity boutique, I focused more on one-and-one personal shopping-esque customers and the ones who weren't full of themselves were grateful when I found just the right top to go with just the right skirt. As a bank teller, the most frustrating customers would lead me and my coworkers to tears, but I remember one time a girl was cashing in her bonds and didn't know quite how they worked. Turns out they were worth thousands, so she was obviously thrilled with the outcome and I was happy to be the bearer of good news. There is a satisfaction in knowing that I helped fix someone's problems. Those customers, however, are few and far between.

The more common customer enters my place of employment demanding something -- a better seat when we're full, cheaper prices, more money. They think they are entitled to something that I have no reason to give them. They assume that since they are paying money, they are paying my salary, and thus I should get on my knees and blow them out of thankfulness. Nobody works those jobs because they love people; they work those jobs because they have to. It is possible to enjoy that sort of job if you're, say, a people person, but I am decidedly not.

Now that my current job is based less on giving awesome customer service and more receiving it, I am entirely happier with my life. Having been on the other side of the counter, I know it sucks to have a grumpy customer who expects too much. Generally, I am the nice customer -- hi, how are you, is there any way you could, thank you so much, I really appreciate it. And I do! I do appreciate how much effort goes into the simplest of pleasantries and the most menial of tasks. I also know that the only reason these people stay in business is because of people like me -- I, a paying customer, am keeping their company afloat so that they can pay their bills. So when I call you, KINKO'S, and ask for a price quote on several projects and you REFUSE to give me the number of quotes I need, I am outraged. I know you are busy -- so take my information and call me back when you aren't. And when I call you, lovely people of COPY CENTRAL, and you do just that, I am more than happy to send you the few extra bucks because that's what I'm paying for: customer service.

So, anyway. I'm sorry for all you people out there working sucky jobs, and I've been there. I'm not asking you to be so gracious for my presence that you bow before me; just a little common decency. Thanks.

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About me
Hi. Morgan, 27, of Santa Barbara, CA. I am a hypocritical admirer of rhetoric (when it is my own) and an observer of literary trends. A secret: I don't take anything very seriously, and that includes myself.