Thankless Jobs

These jobs I would never do. I don’t care how much I was paid. Am I talking about cleaning sewers or working in a mortuary? Nope

OK, well I probably wouldn’t do those either, but today I’m talking about customer service work – being on the other end of a phone line with someone who has a problem with a product.

The thing that amazes me is how cheerful and cooperative most of these folks are. Their jobs largely consist of saying the same thing over and over to a succession of callers, some of whom are angry. It’s not the customer service person’s fault that something was wrong with the product or it wasn’t delivered, but these are the individuals who have to absorb customer frustration, belligerence – and even threats.

True, you sometimes get connected to one of these folks who are trained to dodge your questions or not listen to you. But that’s because the company they work for has trained them to deliver that message. I’ll bet relatively few of them enjoy it.

Just because I hate doing this dance, if it seems like it’s welcome, I try to chat up these folks a little bit. Maybe I’ve been to the city or town where their call center is. Often, they have unusual names, especially the women. I talked to one this morning, for instance, whose name was Timber. No, she told me, neither of her parents worked for the Forest Service – it was just the only name they could agree on when she was born.

Yes, I even try talking to the people in India – but to Western ears, they all have unusual names, which they often ditch in favor of something American-sounding.

Look, these folks go to work every day – even on the days when they have serious problems of their own and don’t feel like being nice to anybody -- but they somehow manage to do it. This is true not only of call center people, but of anybody who has to wait on others. If I were a waiter in an Italian restaurant, the first customer who gave me a problem would have a lap full of clam sauce, and I probably wouldn’t bother to close the door on my way out.

So if your job involves serving others, and you can do it well and be consistent about it, you have this writer’s deep sympathy and undying admiration.