x-posted to reddit.

[synesthesiatic.livejournal.com]

Hi, internet.

My name is Jia. I'm 21. I have an apartment, a boyfriend, a cat, and I like to go geocaching in my spare time. I like sushi. I like hello kitty, but I hate the colour pink. I want to be an illustrator for CCP "when I grow up", but right now? Right now, as of Monday, 9:05 PM Central Time, December 21st, 2009, I work as level one technical support for $ISP$.

My dear customers, I know that when you call in, you're probably already frustrated. I know that when you dial 2 [or whatever it is] for technical support, that you're fed up with trying to finagle the modem around your house and point it just the right way to get a good signal. I know you're sick of the random outages at two in the morning, the scrolling lights, the slow speeds, the misrepresentations by our indirect sales reps. I get it. I do, I promise. I completely understand.

However.

Whenever you might press 2 for technical support and listen to that god-awful hold music as some anonymous woman thanks you for calling $ISP$, please consider this. I am a human being. No. I want you to really, honest-to-god *think* about this. That cheerful girly voice you get on the other line asking you for your daytime telephone phone number? Yeah, it's attached to another breathing, thinking, feeling human being.

Here's something you may not know, despite the fact you seem to know everything about RF and computers.

I want to help you, and as a matter of fact, most of the people here do. We care if your internet works and we care that you can't connect. We want to help you get back online so you can get on with your life or your business day.

Screaming at us, swearing at us, telling us you'll sic the attorney general on our "fraudulent" company, telling us how much our service sucks and how much we suck as human beings for being unable to make it better when the actual source of the problem is probably a piece of equipment that's third party and not even our problem? Holy shit, that doesn't help us do our jobs, and you know what? We can't hang up on you. When you verbally abuse us, when you make our eardrums cringe with your hysterical shrieking and shouting, we still have to help you.

When you imply that I'm just a stupid little girl reading from a script? I can't tell you that it'd be easier if I was reading from a script because then I'd have a pre-programmed way to deal with your ass-hattery. I have to say, "Well sir, that's just not so."

I am a trained, competent individual in my field. I operate HAM radio so I even know about how the RF side of how the service works. I probably know more about your computer than you do, and the best part is? I don't get a script. I don't get an easy way out. When you're an asshole on the phone, I still have to fix your problem with a smile and a, "Thank you for choosing $ISP$," even though I really wish you'd get off my phone and stop making my day miserable.

That doesn't change the fact that I actually care, though.

That's the worst part, don't you see? I care what you say to me, I'm sorry that you're angry about the quality of service in your area, it's new technology and no one else is really doing what we're doing yet. We don't have set ways of doing things or scripted replies, and when things go wrong, yeah, sure, there's ways to fix it, but we get to come up with it on the spot. There's no folder to read, no book to refer to except for a website with some pre-set processes, and most of the time your issue doesn't even fall into those processes. Not even close.

So, the next time you dial 2 for technical support, or customer care, or whatever it is you're calling for, please take a moment to consider that you wouldn't talk to your dog the way you talk to us. Remember that whoever you get on the phone has a family and a life outside of the call center, and while we want to help you and resolve your problem, it's easier to do it if you're not being a prick about it.

Thanks,

-Jia.
L1 Technical Support
FLCC.

Comments

[taiki.livejournal.com]

Apathy is a tech rep's best friend.

I've been doing this for damn near 10 years. You can't let it get to you.

[synesthesiatic.livejournal.com]

I'm really, really bad at apathy. I'm of the mind that if I'm going to do something, I'm going to give a damn about it and do it to the best of my abilities.

... Which means I probably should be pursuing my art career, not working for $ISP$ because eventually, it will crush my soul.

[taiki.livejournal.com]

It's generally phone work that's soul crushing.

the ISP we work for is probably one of the better call centers. No joke.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

There's a balance point which can be reached between care and apathy. There's got to be at least some care, or else why put the headset on? At the same time, you've got to have defense mechanisms so you don't get sucked in and burned out in three months.

As soon as a call goes sour, a retreat into apathy can save your brain. But until then, care can always rear its cautious and battered head.

I got a double dose, myself - I went into tech support from behind the counter of the local Social Security office. If you couldn't shield against the dark emotional miasma that crouched, weeping, in the waiting area day after day, you quit or you burned out. There were a lot of long-term staff there who had skin thicker than fourteen rhinos and the deadest, saddest eyes I've ever seen.

[taiki.livejournal.com]

that's kind of the point. You really don't need to retreat when the call's going well. You generally need to when the call isn't. Which is more often than not in a support position, where 90% of the aclls are, ()@!()@!*()@# WHAAAARGARBL IT'S BROKE FIX IT.

[awarrenfells.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

or just drive you insane.

It's fun to watch for the rest of us though. I just got promoted to systems, and I'm watching the new helpdesk guy who actually cares about the users and wahts going on, and I'm watching that slowly drift away from him as he runs into the asshats and the beurocracy... It's sad the first few times you watch it, but then you realize in the long run it'll make them a better helpdesk person, because they can do their jobs without getting all emotional about it.

[nuadha-prime.livejournal.com]

I keep telling a co-worker this. She gets so stressed out when management tells her that we can't fix things we should be able to. I tell her that when it comes up to tell the customer "It was a management decision and out of my control." She gets stressed when they yell at you and I keep telling her to follow my example. I care until you raise your voice or say something rude to me. The first time you do or the second I know that there is nothing more I can do for you, I switch to "don't care mode."

[emsporter.livejournal.com]

I have a young guy in my team who still earnestly tries to fix things. He's a real doll, in fact, and damn good at the job - but the rest of us who've been around a bit longer are far too jaded to give a crap.

I keep looking at him wondering when he'll develop cynicism.

[emsporter.livejournal.com]

Er, not that we don't fix things ourselves, but he goes Above and Beyond, whereas the rest of us stick to the boundaries of Reasonable Support.

(I do feel the need to clarify that yes, all of the team do their actual job.)

[ghostdandp.livejournal.com]

yea, watching the same thing hear. He's slowly learning though

[nightsinger.livejournal.com]

Heh, I'm in the transition phase between "earnestly trying to fix things" and "pure cynicism" myself. I get disgusted when I realise how utterly shoddy our so-called QA is for our software, and how I should not have to take this nth escalation on this topic today -- and wouldn't if we had anything resembling documentation for anything at all.

Et cetera, et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.