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Is It Me or Are People Getting Stupider?
By Timothy A. Wilson | October 20, 2007
Have you dealt with what goes for customer service lately? You know those calls you get on the phone or ones you make to try and get something done. I’ve heard the stories of dealing with overseas call centers and not being able to understand what the person on the other end of the phone is saying. There is an obvious language barrier that companies need to work on, but what I’m referring to are the people here in the US who speak perfectly good English, but lack the common sense and the ability to think in a critical manner.
Some time back I had trouble with my laptop. It wouldn’t power up. It was dead. I tried everything to get it started. And yes, I made sure it was plugged in. I called technical support on the phone and carefully explained the problem to them, and requested on site support as part of my service agreement with this laptop. The technician told me that before he could authorize onsite support he needed to determine exactly the nature of the problem. I told him I could not turn on the computer he then asked if when I press the power button if saw a green light indicating that the computer has come on. At which point I asked, what part of can’t power up don’t you understand. He ignored my question and proceeded to ask me a set of scripted questions which had nothing to do with my problem and that’s when I lost it. He then told me that if I didn’t calm down he would hang up as he didn’t have to take my abuse, and I told him sir, please do, because I hope the next person I call will not be as dumb as you are at this very moment.
Most of you know that I recently lost my son in horrible car accident. My daughter-in-law and grand daughter are currently staying with us. Like all young married couples, they had their financial problems got behind on a few bills and were in the process of catching up when the accident occurred. With everything, my daughter-in-law is trying to handle receiving calls from bill collectors are not something she needs to deal with.
However, they insist on calling and demanding payment. One company in particular had the nerve to tell her they were sorry for her lost but wanted to know when she would be making payment on an overdue bill. When questioned about their lack of sensitivity a supervisor apologized but also asked me when I thought a payment might be made.
What is wrong with people today? Have companies been duped and scammed so much they’ve become so callous and money hungry they no longer care about the people they service? Are the metrics so tight that the so called customer service representatives are under so much pressure to meet their collection quota they feel justified in treating people as non-entities? Have we dumb down the job so much that people feel their job is irrelevant or that no one knows who or what it is they do, or are they frustrated they have no means of knowing how good or bad they are doing?
I admit my emotions are still raw and will be for some time. But for some time I’ve been frustrated with the fact that a sack of rocks have more common sense than the people I’ve dealt with in customer service departments for the past several months.
Since my son’s death and dealing with some of these troglodytes, my level of frustration is off the Richter scale.
At one point, I was willing to accept the fact that it may be me, but the evidence is mounting and support the thesis that people are getting stupider. What do you think?
Topics: ACTing Right, Accountability, Communication |
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