Customer Service Work Should be Mandatory for All
You know how they say you can never judge a person until you walk in their shoes? Well that definitely can be said about telephone representatives. Though their field of work stretches over large variations of customer service, the bottom line is only until after you’ve done it yourself will you truly understand it from their point of view…until then, you just might be one of those assholes they have to deal with everyday!
Telephone reps can cover so many different avenues:
* You got your Technical Support: which typically is the highest paying and most respected telephone service job because customers call YOU needed YOUR help.
* Then you got your standard Customer Service: which is a catch all job title for those involved in handling customers, their accounts and/or their orders.
* Telemarketing: (which is a beast) normally pays the least, has a high turnover rate because people quit all the time and is very emotionally abusive.
* And lastly you have your Collections: not only are you calling customers, you’re trying to collect money on past bills they were hoping slipped through the cracks.
Talk to any telephone rep from any of those departments and they will all tell you, no matter what the purpose of the call, you get SEVERAL customers who find ways of LOUDLY blaming you for things that aren’t fully under your control:
* The time of the day they were called (it’s an automatic dialer).
* How many times they had to call the 1-800 numbers before their issue was resolved.
* An item they ordered was out of stock.
Once you’ve worked in the customer service industry and become subject to these uncontrollable accusation, you start to sympathize when you play the frustrated customer role talking to a telephone rep; and I think that’s something everyone should experience.
Maybe that’s just me because I’m a behind-the-scenes kinda girl. I always want to know what goes into making a product what it becomes. What do waitresses do once they turn that corner into the kitchen? How did billion dollar companies get their start and how long did it take? But with this…not only will it provide knowledge to the population at large it also would teach humility, patience and sympathy.
Customer service should be a required high school experience! Like summer jobs or resume building, students should take simple customer service calls so they can see what it’s like on the other end…and this would thereby increase their chances of not being one of those assholes in the future! 
Ever worked in customer service or been one of those people to make an anger call? Tell us about it below!
