Why is customer service *so* bad now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Every time these threads crop up, I suspect it's mostly the author who is the problem. I hardly ever encounter poor customer service, but then I'm always someone who makes eye contact with the waitress/cashier/customer rep, treats them like a human being and mind my manners.

You generally receive what you put in.

People who write such posts get up on the wrong side of the bed, go about with surly faces, and then proceed to notice every negative interaction they have.

Says the skinny blonde white woman.

No one can see you on the phone.

[Anonymous]

This is OP, and:
(a) to date most of my working life was spent in “lowly” customer service positions, mainly in restaurants and coffee shops (I was a waitress, hostess, bar manager, and I managed a Starbucks.) I *get it.*

(b) I am in my thirties and the change, in my view, has been precipitous.

(c) I am now in a pretty cushy corporate job and I see this poor customer service in the corporate world, as well.

I’m a millennial but I moved out and was totally independent starting in my late teens, put myself through college and grad school, so maybe that’s why I was more dedicated to giving superior customer service? It’s just my theory. I know a lot of young people today are being heavily subsidized by their parents so maybe know that even if they don’t make good tips/get fired it doesn’t really have a material impact on their life.

That said, my peers also gave good service when I was working in restaurants and food service, so was it covid?

I’m maybe being unfair but I kind of think this is a Gen Z thing: they’re inundated by social media which becomes an echo chamber of affirmation and reflective of a life that, for some, seems like endless opportunity; maybe they’re resentful that their lives don’t mirror the lives they see on SM.

Finally, I notice the this very haughty, almost intentionally unhelpful behavior in the corporate world, and I notice a total disregard for hierarchy (for example, a coordinator-level person emailing my boss, who’s CEO of a 5,000 person organization, in a snippy way devoid of a “happy-to-help” undertone.)

I just don’t get it. And for people who say this is good: I’m not sure it is. Pleasantries, niceties etc grease the wheel of society. Without that what do we become?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its part of the philosophy of waht I call "DIY America." Companies, drs offices, everywhere just wants you to handle things yourself.

Check out yourself, buy things yourself, got a problem? Just try and handle it yourself before calling anyone. Little issues that used to take 10 minutes to resolve now involve going to an online chat, waiting for an AI bot to understand you need a person, finally getting a person, looking up accounts, explaining the problem, getting a new person, explaining the problem again.

It's exhausting on both sides.

OMG, this is giving me a horrible flashback to the time I spent two hours on chat with Amazon Prime customer service when I couldn't get a tv show I'd paid for to play on my tv with my firestick. Over two hours of chat, and it still wasn't resolved. I finally just ended the chat in a rage. Then I typed the problem into ChapGPT and what did I get? Instructions that were verbatim what the Amazon chat person had been giving me. So frustrating. You know what finally worked? Unplugging the firestick and plugging it back in. Which we came up with ourselves (and would have figured out hours earlier if I hadn't been doing all of the bs the person on chat had me trying).

I can't belive you would bother cs without trying to unplug it first. Maybe you are why people with real issues can't get decent help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only had that problem with people abroad who answer the phone (my cell phone company, insurance, etc).

You are a liar and a troll. Customer Service people who are abroad are far more helpful than Americans.

Literally not true!!! They struggle to communicate and understand the issue for over an hour before the can even begin to help you with it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think its part of the philosophy of waht I call "DIY America." Companies, drs offices, everywhere just wants you to handle things yourself.

Check out yourself, buy things yourself, got a problem? Just try and handle it yourself before calling anyone. Little issues that used to take 10 minutes to resolve now involve going to an online chat, waiting for an AI bot to understand you need a person, finally getting a person, looking up accounts, explaining the problem, getting a new person, explaining the problem again.

It's exhausting on both sides.

OMG, this is giving me a horrible flashback to the time I spent two hours on chat with Amazon Prime customer service when I couldn't get a tv show I'd paid for to play on my tv with my firestick. Over two hours of chat, and it still wasn't resolved. I finally just ended the chat in a rage. Then I typed the problem into ChapGPT and what did I get? Instructions that were verbatim what the Amazon chat person had been giving me. So frustrating. You know what finally worked? Unplugging the firestick and plugging it back in. Which we came up with ourselves (and would have figured out hours earlier if I hadn't been doing all of the bs the person on chat had me trying).

I can't belive you would bother cs without trying to unplug it first. Maybe you are why people with real issues can't get decent help!

I can't believe you felt the need to type this out? Maybe you and your gross attitude are why customer service is so bad.

[Anonymous]

You should demand to speak with a manager.

[Anonymous]

I don’t find most service rude, I just find it increasingly incompetent and frustrating. Calling any kind of customer service line seems to invariably involve getting wrong answers and confusion that necessitate further calls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve only had that problem with people abroad who answer the phone (my cell phone company, insurance, etc).

You are a liar and a troll. Customer Service people who are abroad are far more helpful than Americans.

?!?!
No. Absolutely not.
United’s line staffed by Americans is miles better than the one they have staffed out of India. It’s night and day.

[Anonymous]

1) Those working in-person jobs hate that they have to work in-person jobs knowing their peers are getting paid to work fake remote jobs from their kitchen table or bed. Totally understandable.

2) And the grifters working remote hate when you disrupt their fake laptop job and have them do some actual real work.