Customer Service

I happened into the field of customer service, and I use the verb "happened" very consciously. I have ever considered myself "people person" and many who know me well would heartily agree with me. I am cynical, introverted, sometimes an intellectual snob. However, over the years after being in the field (albeit by accident- first job available after a divorce) I found that not only can I be very good at it, but there are many instances in which I actually enjoy and feel good about it. There is no explaining it, but I guess it has something to do with enjoying the approval I receive from a successful interaction.

It used to be that customer service was pretty narrowly defined: first, the means by which a company brings its products, tangible and intangible, to its intended market and secondly, the means by which future business was generated by performing maintenance (again, tangible or intangible) on the product or account. Simply put: you buy a toaster. You get it home, it doesn't work, you bring it back. The company didn't credit your payment to your charge account, you show them the cancelled check, they credit you and apologize for the inconvenience.

Now it seems as things have gotten to an extreme, in which the customer determines what "customer service" is according to their purview. On one hand, I can sympathize and encourage that but like anything taken to an extreme, it falls somewhere between unrealistic and maddening. These days, the customer wants bread to put in the toaster and if it does not come out right the first time because they did not read the instructions, the toaster goes back, an apology is demanded for the pain and suffering involved, and nothing will be bought at that store again, according the customer, unless it is explained in great detail and with a written hand out how the thing works.

Anytime, it seems, that I speak to a customer and they don't get what they want I hear the phrase, "I thought you said you were customer service," in a snotty tone. It is extremely difficult for me to reply in a like manner, usually something along the lines of "Yes, I am customer service but not a magic genie here to grant your every wish." Many people think that customer service equals doing whatever they want done and unfortunately it is not always possible. The rights of the consumer are important- don't get me wrong. As a consumer myself I get highly indignant when I get what I consider to be hostile, indifferent or unfriendly reps on the phone. Believe me. But, I do not expect them to work miracles or do something that would cost them their job.

It is a catch-22 in many ways. Truly excellent reps often go to other jobs because of the low pay and even lower respect they get or because of the burnout factor. We don't respect customer service in this country because we have been trained to to think that no request is too small or large. On one hand, customer service reps are seen as lowly uneducated fools who can't work anywhere else, but on the other hand are expected to do things that the customers themselves cannot or will not (such as refunding bank fees when a customer admits they don't have time to balance their checkbook. For the last year ).