talk is cheap

the enshittification of customer service is a tricky issue. customer service workers are worse at their jobs and more rude. customers are also less competent and more rude. vicious cycle. you'd be tempted to think it's mainly all down to that, but in reality excellent cream of the crop customer service agents and managers would be quite capable of turning things around except for a third factor. upper management is reducing the autonomy and independence of their lowest paid employees at a clip. out of fear and bc some pimply 20 year old tech salesmen convinced them to take autonomy away from agents and give it to various pieces of tech, built by people who don't know the particular job and won't be around to adapt it. great agents and managers are adaptable and smart and firm and know when to make exceptions. the kind of person who can do that chafes very badly at big brother micromanagement and stupid wasteful processes. they have left the field or given up and turned into cranky useless agents.

as a customer the best thing you can do is try to be really really good at being a customer. sometimes to get what you want/need you have to be the one who soothes and cheers persuades and sets firm boundaries. be patient and persistent and forgiving and empathetic and put your ego aside, give them the best opportunity to give you their best. you can turn someone's day around, not because they deserve it, but because you deserve to be someone awesome who does that kind of thing, and maybe get what you want to boot, and maybe make the employee easier for the next customer to deal with. it can make a legit difference

i wish my cat could have a few beers with me

thinking about that toni morrison quote that went to the effect of ‘you’re looking in your children’s face to make sure their face is clean and their hair is combed and they’re looking in your face to see love.’ because it’s saur true.

when you're representing an entity like a company, and someone or something else in that company has made a mistake, in your capacity as a representative, it is your role to apologize. the company you represent owes that person an apology. you're not taking personal responsibility, you're apologizing on behalf of the company. how does your personal ego even enter in? relax

you can even say that if you're picky. on behalf of the company i am very sorry, i hope we can solve this problem. are we enemies or am i a client of the entity you are voluntarily employed to represent?