1. To be treated like shit or ignored
2. To be hassled to no fucking end
3. Routed to “Randy” who obviously is NOT NAMED RANDY AND NOT TAKING MY CALL FROM FUCKING ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA!
It is a sad statement, but in America we have come to expect shitty customer service. No matter where it is. At a restaurant, if the waiter/waitress can get my order right of no tomatoes I am happy enough to ignore the fact that they fucked up everything else because I barely expect then to be able to read. That sucks because everyone I know has worked in a restaurant, fast food or in the big box retail industry performing customer service (including yours truly) and I know how difficult and fucking annoying it is. However, I don’t blame the employees. I don’t blame the outsourced labor. I blame us as Americans.
Reason #1: The Customer Can Go To Fucking Hell.
Let’s think about this logically. How often have you gone to Best Buy, picked the brain of the person there for about two hours about a TV while they stand there respectfully (Sometimes) answer your repeated dumbass questions at length as you kick tires. Then, after all that annoying time of being a window shopping prick you say “Oh, I was just looking” and go home and buy the product online? That is douchebaggery at its finest.
Little known fact is that most employees at big box retailers are not on commission. They literally answer your dumb ass questions for $9.50 an hour while the company makes its millions if not BILLIONS while not giving their employees so much as a bonus or a reach-around. The people working at the majority of the places that we expect good customer service either work for a shitty hourly or a VERY SHITTY HOURLY with the hope of tips from a city of call-center workers and the military. Both make about the same and their brain capacity is about the same: dumb as shit and no tipping fuckers. Yet, bars make hand over fist and we see how most retailers are losing money because people can go online and not have to walk into a Circuit City and bask in the aura of failure, broken dreams and unfulfilled ambition. It is a massive cost savings and revenue generator for companies to pay employees as little as possible while maximizing their working potential. They tried that once and it worked like gangbusters. It was called slavery. But those days are over. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t want to pander to thankless fuckers that want to waste my time when I’m not getting paid and these people don’t care about me. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes when you skip on a tip or pester someone at CompUSA for a simple ass question just to go to their website. Although…they went out of business (for among other reasons) having shitty customer service. They also (reportedly) paid the least of any big box retailer and yet had one of the highest internet traffic for in-stock items. Coincidence?
Reason #2: Corporate American Sucks Sweaty Gojira Balls.
I touched on this earlier but the fact is that it is a cost savings for large conglomerates to either cut back on customer service or even outsource (Or my favorite “nearshore.” What kind of bullshit is that?!) is “supposedly” too big to pass up. Paying someone from a developing nation $5-$7 to do the job that an American would demand $13-$15 an hour for is a smart business move. Even still…THEYTOOKOURJERBS!!!:
I remember I yelled that when I had to train my replacement. Anyway, add in the cost of leasing a building and keeping it up and running (networks, IT, facilities, feeding the people, security, etc) and it LOGICALLY is a good idea to outsource because they can pass the savings onto the consumer. But think about it….has the price of shit gone down?! NO! They pocket that money and use it to buy coke to snort off the nipples of underage Taiwanese prostitutes! I mean, that isn’t a BAD IDEA but don’t sacrifice the customer service to do so! Think about it like this: how many of you have decided to not call tech support or get an extended warranty just so you could speak to someone you could understand over the phone? Be honest now.
Now I can say that I have worked with, trained and had customer service from outsourced people. They are not dumb by any stretch of the imagination. However, let’s be honest. The accent is thick and it is hard to understand and for you to be understood. Now as one who called Gateway and got someone from Alabama I can say I am no longer bothered by the accent because Alabama sucks ass. That being said, it is still a sign of poor service to discount the customer experience to save a buck The problem is that no matter how shitty people are treated here, they still come back for more. Mainly because there is nowhere left to go. Everyone outsources labor and the customers hate it. They could boycott and by from someplace else but everyone else is doing it too! So you have to grin and bear it for the most part.
Everything being said, the reason we are stuck in a world where the customer is a dick and therefore treated like shit is not going to change. People are still going to take advantage of lower wage employees to get lower prices while companies are going to cut costs whatever way they can to accommodate those prices. Therefore; you want cheap you will get cheap. And it kind of sucks but that is life, man:
That’s all. I had to get that out. One last thing:
You tell ME the difference.
Diddy Out. I spit that hot fire!
