Customer disservice
It’s finally occurred to me why, when dealing with any sort of customer service situation, my parents want to talk to a human being, and I want to talk to a machine.
It’s about expectations.
Mom and dad don’t expect to be able to get a machine to give them what they want, and I don’t expect a human being to be competent.
Mom and dad grew up at a time when people took pride in their work, when quality really was job one and the customer was always right, even when he wasn’t. It didn’t matter how menial the job was, folks always seemed happy to do it, and if you needed help, they were happy to offer it. You used to be able to go to the gas station and get your oil checked, your windows washed, and your tank filled without ever having to get out of your car. Doctors used to come to your house…
By contrast, I live in a time when I’ve learned not to expect anybody to be helpful with anything. If I call tech support, I know I’m either going to get someone dumber than me, or someone who barely speaks English. If I can’t find an item in a store, I know the clerk will look in the same place I just looked, and then tell me they must be out of whatever it is I’m looking for (because of course they won’t know what I’m looking for, because I inevitably know more about the product than they do, simply by virtue of knowing of it and seeking it out). If the UPS website says a package has been delivered to my house, I have no real assurance that it’s there, and if it is, it’s probably in a bush. If a customer service representative says he’ll call me back, I have zero expectation that he will. I expect telemarketers to ignore the word “no.” When dining out, I don’t expect my order to be written down, and I fully expect it to be wrong…
I did it subconsciouly for a while, not even realizing why. At first I thought my antisocial tendencies were just leading me to avoid people in general, and while that may be a part of it, I realized that the truth of the matter is that I’m just more likely to get satisfactory service with as little human involvement as possible.
It’s a sad commentary on the state of modern society, but that’s just how it is. It’s a shame, because a satisfactory customer service experience with a human is vastily superior to one with a system, and that’s why, whenever I go somewhere and get exceptional service from a live human being, I’ll be their loyal customer for life.
Wow, that’s just too eerie really. I was thinking something along these lines just this morning, when a telemarketer called and just barrelled right on and never let me have a word in edgewise, and for the first time ever, I just simply hung up without trying to be polite about it. About how I’m so much more comfortable in dealing with people or what have you by communicating electronically, because in general I just really haven’t had the best reactions to real human beings. But as you said, there are exceptions, and when you get good service, you are loyal because good service is so hard to find.