Monthly Archive for March, 2007

[Sometimes a story is appalling on more than one level, and that's when you realize that employee mistreatment is way way more than just "my boss sucks." You realize that sometimes it's system-wide, and that there are bigger problems to address than just "I hate fetching coffee." Here's an example.]

By the time I get to my night job as a customer service rep for a food-ordering company. I’m generally tired as shit inside but I’m still jovial, friendly and always extremely professional. Is it too much to ask for the same from a customer!?  Last week REALLY tested my limits:  A customer had messed up his OWN online food order (a customer fills it out then clicks “send”), but instead of sending the “incorrect” order back to the restaurant or asking for a coupon . . . he gave the food to his friends to eat, didn’t want to pay for it, and then wanted to order through us again and not pay for that meal either!?  I mean, I understand if it was a computer glitch or the restaurant’s mistake, but he was being a real asshole about it!

So, we give him a couple of options, none which he found acceptable.  He keeps calling back and speaks to a different person each time including myself and the actual manager, but given that it was his mistake and that he still accepted/ate the food, we tell him his options at this point are limited. This is when he asks my co-worker “Tara” her name:  She tells him, and then he says “It’s hard to tell all, you N*****S sound so much alike!” *click*

. . . We were all stunned, regardless of color.  That sad part is we made note of the incident and sent it off to HR.  Do you know they wouldn’t even suspend or cancel the customer’s account!?  When I questioned the VP, he said that “CSRs have to have a thick skin and we currently have no internal protocol for dealing with this from a customer, but we look forward to creating one.”  I mean, I know they’re a “vendor” and the bottom line is always key but . . . c’mon!? 

I’m really good at my job and need the money, but am deeply offended and wanna quit now… -Submitted by NAthon, New York City

It might sound strange to call a man a “diva,” but that is really the only word I can think of to describe my boss’s worldview. Like a moderately talented starlet who’s had a few number one videos on TRL, my boss walks around viewing the world through a bubble where he obviously deserves to be catered to by everyone around him. Sometimes when I talk to him my mind conjures up a picture of a spoiled brat stamping his foot and wailing when his mommy won’t buy him ice cream.

The infamous cell phone incident comes to mind. It is a normal day in the middle of the week during one of my first few months working in the office. I’ve won some, I’ve lost some, but I’m generally feeling like I’m capable of doing most of the things he might ask me to do. Clearly, I thought too soon. During one of his 4,294,3270 daily calls to the office to see if “anything’s doing,” he slips it in as if it’s the easiest thing in the world:

“Can you call the cell phone company and get me a new cell phone?” I hesitate, sift through my mental notes, and remember that he sent back a “broken” one earlier in the summer.

“Sure,” I say, feeling intensely relieved that I have the faintest clue what he’s talking about (more often than not, this is not the case).

“I want a really thin, sleek one. With a camera. A ‘Razr’ phone. But make sure it’s a really thin Razr. Not just any old one.” Never mind that the “Razr” is the name of the model and it only comes in one width–I quickly assure him that I will get him the thinnest, tiniest, insee-beensiest Razr money can buy. “No, no. I don’t want to pay for it. I want it replaced for free.” My stomach drops.

“I’ll do what I can?” I offer warily.

“Goodthanksbye [CLICK].” (It’s never a genuine ‘thanks’ for the pretzels I turn myself into to get him what he wants; it’s a one word afterthought offered only because of convention.) I put off the dreaded call to the cell phone company for as long as I can, but Solitaire, JCrew.com and the Best of Craigslist can only offer so much solace from the inevitable.

“Thankyouforcalling [REDACTED], thenation’smosteffectivewirelessnetwork, mynameis [MUMBLE MUMBLE] howmayIhelpyou?”

“Um, yes…I’m calling on behalf of my employer? He’s very unhappy with his phone, and he is hoping to have it replaced with a new one?” I proceed to jump through approximately 5,638 hoops, involving giving various forms of verifcation that I am, in fact, allowed to take action on his account. I talk to approximately 492 different people, in approximately 84 departments, until I finally hit a dead end. I have no choice but to get my boss on the line with me with the “Customer Care” department representative.

Continue reading ‘horror story epic: phoning it in’