People are difficult to deal with on the best of days. Especially for those of us who have issues working with people in the first place. Today has me way over the edge.
When it gets stormy, people get collectively cranky. Today was one of those stormy days where the collective public said, "challenge accepted" and made our entire company feel like taking a look at open positions elsewhere. Normally I can get through these calls with eye rolls and such. Today, I lost my patience... audibly. When I got someone cranky (almost every call, btw), I was audibly annoyed, and many caught on. Keep in mind, I've been praised repeatedly for my patience on difficult calls, which is a surprise every time. Today, I will get no praise, but I'll probably get warnings.
I had one b***h call in, both fists swinging, and says, "Do you even know why I called?!" Well, no, princess. You haven't said anything other than how much you hate this company. How on earth would I figure out that you needed a completely different company to complain to since your issue was with them???
Fun fact: If you're a jackass to the person on the phone who is trying to help you, you're not going to get the help you need. Not because we're inept, but because we want you off our line ASAP. Be kind to the other end of the line. We're people. We have company policies that we can't ignore just because you want this or that. We can't magically make your problem disappear if you're not doing your part on your end. We've been yelled at long before you called in, so expect us to be on guard and treat you with about as much respect as you're treating us with. Oh, and we'll complain about you, make fun of you, and avoid your calls if you're one of those people. You'll become a meme, an office zing word, and a joke between departments. Do you want that? No. Be a good customer and you'll get good service.
Example of one of those people we still talk about...
We have this woman, we'll call her Lucy, who calls in almost daily, yelling at anyone she talks to. She's always needing help finding places who can help her. Welp... All the places within 20 miles of Lucy have banned her from their businesses! So, every time we get someone who has been banned from one place, we call them a Lucy. Whenever someone loses it the way Lucy does, they're called a Lucy. Our group chats consist of things like, "I've got a Lucy caller" and "This caller got Lucy'd!"
Don't be Lucy.
