Frequently Infrequent

-The people answering the phone have zero control over the policy. Don’t yell at them. The job is mostly getting yelled at for stuff you have no control over.

-Call centers have very strict rules about when and why you are allowed to disconnect a call. Being polite and confused absolutely does not qualify. They have to spend that time with you.

-In call centers, call times are strictly monitored. You have goals to get through. Slowing down those times, while being polite, and increasing wait times makes the bosses notice. The bank call center I worked for our call average was supposed to be 2 minutes. When everyone’s average went up because of something happening, management noticed. And did not enjoy it because on slow call days they could let people sign up for “early outs” so you could leave and they didn’t have to pay you. When the phones are slammed and call times up, you have to pay more. You are probably looking at overtime pay for a chunk of staff. Something they really don’t want to do.

-These polite interactions often get taken more seriously than someone screaming. Screaming can get dismissed as “irrational” or something. But “I am a customer and don’t understand this, can you explain it?” And then multiplied by thousands? That gets logged. That gets discussed. That can’t be ignored that a lot of customers are asking for answers.

“I tried to purchase and it was declined” they can see if that is true. So try and get a transaction declined if you are going to say that. Give your call, and therefore your complaint, credibility.

Or!

Instead of starting with a complaint, I approached this as a Confused American Consumer who doesn't understand why they can't buy things off a website they use

The call center rep immediately asked if it was about Steam/itch

(cont)

"I said yes and asked for information, saying I don't understand what's happening, just trying to understand.

Something about Australia? Why is Australia impacting me in the US?

They said to email complaints to an email address]

["I don't have a complaint though! I don't even know what I'm complaining out.

Email offered again.

I repeated myself. Slower.

Email again.

"After a few rounds of this I asked for a manager. I'm now on hold.

My demeanor has been polite but confused. Talking slower than usual, to eat up time.

"I've worked call centers before, and I'm not here to lash out at the rep.

I'm playing the part of Polite But Annoying Customer.

I'm causing friction but not giving them any reason to dismiss me.]

["They just offered me a callback from the supervisor but I said I'd stay on hold

"Got a supervisor

Wasted time with greetings / asking how their day is etc

Repeated everything I had told the rep

Said I don't want to waste anyone's time emailing a complaint if I don't know what the complaint is about]

["Supervisor finally said they've been instructed to only hand out the email and give no further information

They can't tell me anything else on the phone

I say hey, no problem, I know this isn't your fault

I ask to file an internal ticket

"Supervisor said all calls are logged with case numbers

I ask for the case number

I now have something I can call back about and waste more time

(since I don't know how email works and I need people to explain things to me slowly on the phone)

"Total call length: 25 minutes]

["I think anyone who has done customer service before wants to be as efficient as possible when calling.

Reality:

I saved screenshots of her blog and last message to the world. Her parents had a lot of control over how she was perceived after her death, but it was also to prevent deletion by Tumblr itself. Even back then, Tumblr has been shadow banning trans women on this platform.

yes cuz i was a child and it was a huge phenomenon that gave me an easy sense of wonder and companionship shared with my peers and i was unaware of many evils of the world

they also made the following changes:

Zuck saw Musk basically living at Mar-a-Largo and this is his response to buy favor. Meta also needs the might of the US government now that the EU regulation is about to drop the hammer on them. They want to become a client corporation a la the United Fruit Company in the 1920's.

They're not just bending the knee, they're opening the gates.

At the age where this question would be appropriate, this child would be learning the early concepts of base ten addition with these:

And this:

While they would have seen children’s posters and toys that count up to ten countless times, rainbow numbers are probably their current main association with the number ten. However, this child doesn’t understand that ten is a larger number than three. There are two main reasons why this might be:

- the child doesn’t understand how many ten is, and sees the numbers 1 and 0, which they do understand. When asked to explain their reasoning, they don’t know how to (this kid is probably about 5 years old), so draw what the number 10 makes them think of.

- the child misunderstands the concept of ‘smaller’ in this question, and thinks of 10 as ‘simpler’ or ‘more fundamental’ a number. This is a common conclusion for little kids to draw because we put so much emphasis on learning to ad and count to 10, so they may think of using rainbow numbers as a way to simplify and reduce down to 10. Again, a 5 year old doesn’t have the self awareness or vocabulary to explain this, and having misunderstood the question, won’t do what is expected (drawing 3 dots next to 10 dots or something similar). Their answer is ‘the rainbow number chart says so’.