Off Her Damn Pedestal

It was hot out. Sweltering.

They were giving away silver baseballs to the first 500 guests - nice score for the kids. So we hung out and watched them get the field ready while the kids snorted their sno-cones.

We didn't last two innings - Joel was literally asking me to go to the car. He was ready to go home. Shoot - after a full day of splashing around in the neighbor's pool - I wasn't surprised. And since we had free tickets, leaving early wasn't a big deal.

Hubz and JC stayed, while the 2 monsters and I headed out.

Do you know what it's like walking around with a 3 and 7 year old? There is no urgency about them. Hmph - we're on our way home, so I figure - what does it matter?

It mattered plenty to the girls behind me.

The first time one of them stepped on the back of my flip-flops, I figured it was an accident. The second time, I got suspicious.

Especially when you're ready to say, "It's okay," to the inevitable, "Oh - sorry about that." Except they never offered an apology, the 1st or the 2nd time.

Then when I heard one of 'em say... "Can you walk any slower now?"

I got pissed off.

And slowly turned around to find three 18 or 19 year-olds, a head or two taller than me and twice as big.

I looked at each of them, one by one... which shut them the fuck up.

I'm sorry - I just don't have any patience for wannabe's who think they're cool by talking shit.

Why do people - kids, teens, adults, whatever - think they have to put people down to make themselves feel better?

I know, I know... insecurity and what have you. Need to put someone down to raise themselves up. Makes you wonder what kind of childhood they had... or what the school bully has to live with at home...

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Do I REALLY have to be such a bitch?

lol - I'm posting this as my Tuesday Toot, simply because I didn't lose it yesterday and kept my cool. :) Thanks Stine and Miranda for the support!

David left a really thoughtful comment on my previous post about bad customer service. I started to respond in the comments section, but thought you might be interested to hear what he had to say.

As another associate in customer service, David has survived some of his own nightmares in this department. Here are his comments:

"From the way you expletives to describe the people, my guess is that you had an attitude going into the conversation with everyone you chatted with on the phone. If you did then good for them for getting an attitude back.

I do work in customer service an hate when people come in with an attitude. Don't take your frustrations out on people who didn't cause them. I personally never give an attitude back, but I sure would love to sometimes.

If the company is not doing something up to the level of service you want, don't use them. Find another company. If you want something done right, do it yourself! Leave your "inner" b*tch to yourself. I can't believe you told some1 to apologize to another person. I feel only a parent can tell their child to apologize to some1 else. Thats just ridiculous. Two wrongs don't make a right. I'm sure you could have gotten the same result and been more friendly."

It takes some effort to leave a long, thoughtful comment on someone's post - and I really appreciate that he took the time. Good or bad - everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I'm all up for sharing. :)

Any good comment deserves a good follow up comment. Did I really need to be such a bitch? Here's my response:

***

Hey David - thanks for the comment! I bet it felt good to get that off of your chest. :)

I actually gave you guys a summarized version of what had happened. That version was looong enough and I didn't feel it was necessary to get in every little detail.

But your comment lets me know that you took time to read the post, which I really appreciate! And if you're reading this, then that lets me know that you are actually interested in a discussion and not just leaving your 2 cents.

If this is your first time visiting, then there's no way you would know that I'm actually a friendly person. I'm friends with anyone and everyone, regardless of age, gender, nationality, it doesn't matter. I'm friends with anyone and everyone - until someone slights me or gives me a reason NOT to be nice. I had an earlier post that desribes me as "sweet and sour."

That day when I called Ricky? I was actually very nice and polite. Frustrated, yes. But not rude.

Except he wasn't listening. In fact, he kept cutting me off and wouldn't even let me finish a sentence. He went on, in a most condescending manner, about how they had not yet received the tenant's rent check. He wrote me off as a dumb client who didn't know the different between sugar and salt.

He was also giving me false information and didn't even have his facts straight.

He backed me into a corner with his condescending tone, lack of people skills and manners, and completely wrong information....

Does that sound like customer service to you?

I've worked the front line in customer service for many years. Our company leads the industry in service. But the problem with working in the service industry, is that one expects the same level of service in return.

If Ricky was a fluke, and I hadn't encountered the same experiences with 3 different people in the same company, this discussion wouldn't be taking place. But Andrew followed the same suit, and not ONE person admitted to making a mistake. Even when they blamed a 3rd party, I allowed them to bow out gracefully instead of letting them know I had caught them red-handed in an outright lie.

Ricky was the 1st, Andrew was the 2nd, and a nameless woman was the 3rd. You want to hear this story?

She saw my number on Caller ID and called me back and asked "Is this (555) 123-4567?" (confirming my telephone number).

"Yes, it is. Can I help you with something?"

She then asks for Josh.

"Josh?"

I start to tell her she has the wrong number... but WAIT. She confirmed my number first. What?!

My caller ID actually already informed me this was them - ABC123 Realty, so I asked:

"Is this ABC123 Realty?"

"Yes, it is."

So I let her know I just called and left a message for Ricky and that's probably why she saw my phone number. She says, "Oh, I'm sorry. I must've just pushed the wrong number."

lol - I know I can't be their speed dial.

So, that whole phone call was a bit fishy to me. That's 3 strikes for this company.

On your point about expletives - I saved my choice words for this post. I didn't use any profanity whatsoever in any of my conversations.

Why not just use another company? You probably forgot that we had to find the rent check FIRST before we can switch companies.

I actually NEVER give attitude first. Wait. I might be guilty of that with the hubby. ;) Then I'll apologize and let him know I'm just having a bad day and we're good. I'm not afraid of the words, "I'm sorry."

I usually give someone the benefit of the doubt, and use good manners and professionalism when dealing with any kind of problem or confrontation. That probably stems from the many, many times I had been wronged in my own lifetime.

But if my opposer can't give me the same consideration in return and continues to jab at me, well...

I have no problem putting them in their place.

Do you still think being friendly would've gotten the same result? Probably if you forgot that the last few months, my mom couldn't get her contact to return her phone calls. SHE'S the nice one. She's sweet and smart, altruistic and way too generous. But that wasn't getting the job done, was it?

Why hadn't she switched before now? My dad didn't want to. So she decided to respect his wishes and try and try again to make it work with this one.

Not anymore.

I got Andrew to call me back before he called my mother, his client. He was casually rambling on and offered up a half-hearted apology. That is precisely when and why I told him he owed her [my mom] the apologies, not me. But you do have a point, I've never advised anyone, other than my children, to apologize to someone else...

Then again, I haven't had to deal with anyone so outrageously rude and unprofessional. Okay, wait - I lied. I see that all the time at work. lol - but I've never seen it like this as a customer.

My mom has a brain aneurysm. Two of them, in fact. It's not good for her to get stressed out and worked up, especially over some idiotic company that doesn't have any self respect.

Am I proud of what had to go down here? Not my best point. But all the niceness in the world wasn't getting it done and now - it's actually all taken care of.

It's one less thing for my mom to worry about. And now the Broker knows what's going on and will make sure Andrew is better about returning calls to his clients.

A headache? Yes. Confrontational? Yes. My favorite thing to do? NOT.

Would I do it again?

You betcha. ;)

NOTE: All names, company names and numbers listed in this post and the original post are entirely fictional to protect the company I'm referring to.

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Miss Nicety's Day Off

Hmph. Some people are un-friggin'-believable.

Do you ever deal with people in customer service, who forget themselves and who the client is? They treat you as if YOU owe THEM something, when it's THEM working for YOU.

You know the good ones. Nobody's perfect. And customer service isn't based on perfection. The secret is in... Service Recovery. How the company handles a problem that's been raised.

It's been a while since I had to tear someone a new one. I'm a pretty reasonable person, and working in the hotel industry for 12 years has taught me quite a few service techniques. But I'm usually on the other end of the line, handling a guest complaint that went over the hotel level and into our corporate offices.

Being on the other end, though...? Push come to shove and this bitch is gonna throw down.

Caution: Miss Nicety took the day off this Monday. Here's some sh*t that just happened to my mom (AKA Mama) and me:

Saturday morning, I'm flat ironing my mom's hair before the party and she starts telling me how frustrated she is with her property management company. Apparently, they left a message with my dad saying that "they received the tenant's rent check, tried to deposit it at my mom's bank, but was unable to do so."

"Unable to do so?"

Mama's trying not to flip, but her mortgage company is scheduled to make the automatic withdrawal from her account, and without the rent check in there, it'll bounce like a kangaroo.

It bothers to me to see her upset, and after 5 minutes of hearing her frustrations of dealing with this company, and how shady it is... I laid the flat iron down and said, "F*ck this. I'mma call them myself."

"Ricky" answers the phone, and with as much personality as a brick wall, starts to tell me that the tenant hasn't sent in her rent check. ??? So now we've got 2 different stories. But his tone is so condescending, writing me off like a fly on his arm, and then he has the balls to hang up on me.

WTF?!

So I call back, twice, let him know we "somehow got disconnected" and he finally gets tired of listening to his own voice and gives me a minute to speak. Now he's confused. Why couldn't they deposit the check? And now he's irritated as well. Because if his associate, Andrew (my mom's contact as Property Manager), would just return my mother's phone calls, he wouldn't be dealing with me, all up in his face, at 7:30am on a Saturday morning.

He apologizes, lets me know he'll get in touch with Andrew to make sure he calls my mother, and we're done.

Except nobody can find the MIA rent check that was supposedly deposited in my mom's bank account.

Today, I finally get a chance to connect with Andrew, and he's already making excuses in the first 2 minutes. I let him ramble on and on, until he finally stops talking. He hasn't shut up long enough for me to even say anything, and thought that by kissing my ass, he'll somehow diffuse the whole situation.

What a dumbf*ck.

So I let him know, quite plainly, that we wouldn't be in this mess if:

1) They just deposited the rent check in the account my mom specified
2) They got their records straight instead of giving us several different stories
3) Most importantly, if he'd just return my mom's phone calls instead of averting to my father

How does someone get a message from Mrs. Smith, and return the call to Mr. Smith? My dad doesn't do JACK with any of their finances. My mom handles it all - he leaves all of that stuff to her.

Well apparently, Mr. Avoidance didn't appreciate me telling him like it is. I got his feathers all ruffled and he started to take tone.

I don't like tone.

I told him I didn't want his apologies. That the only reason he's talking to me right now is because my mom is tired of dealing with him, tired of him not returning her phone calls, and I'm simply here to put an end to it.

He asked me for her phone number (WHAT?!), to which I responded:

"I'm sorry, I'm confused. How do you not have her phone number? She's your client. She calls you and leaves you messages with her phone number. You have it in your records somewhere. (sigh) I'm going to give you her phone number right now, and I'd like you to write it down and call her and offer HER your apologies. Not me. She's the one you need to straighten this out with."

Then I gave him the number, thanked him for his time, and hung up.

Andrew proceeds to call my mom, and starts to make his little excuses again. Ugh. For crying out loud - someone please send this dumb*ss to a customer service class. Clients don't want to hear excuses. They want to hear how the problem is going to get fixed.

But get this. He starts complaining to my mom, telling her he doesn't want to deal with me again. That I wasn't very nice to him and wah, wah, wah. He even asks her what I do for a living - what the HELL does that have to do with anything?!

He cries and says, "I can't deal with your daughter anymore."

But Mama doesn't give. She stands down and says:

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. My daughter called you on my behalf because she can tell how frustrated I am with you not returning my phone calls. She watches my stress level closely because of my medical condition, and is voicing both of our frustrations to you.

But, I will be traveling and will be out of reach, and my daughter is the one that will be handling all of my affairs for me. No one else. If you're not able to work with her, you need to let me know. Now."

Daaaaamn. Go Mama! My mom is sometimes WAY too nice for her own good. But getting trampled on and taken advantage of has taught her to speak up. I was quite impressed.

It worked, and Andrew changed his tone. He apologized, said there would be no problem, that they would make sure everything got taken care of.

So you think it'd be over now, right?

Hmph.

I called Andrew as a follow up to thank him for heeding my message and promptly calling my mother. Not surprisingly, it went to voice mail after 2 rings, but his mailbox was full so I couldn't leave a message.

I decided to call the office and kill 2 birds with one stone: Follow up with Ricky and send thanks for getting on the horn with Andrew, and to have him pass my thanks to Andrew as well.

Funny. Coz as soon as Ricky picks up the line, after I'd been announced, he cuts me off and says, "Um... Dette, all further communications from now on are going to have to be in writing."

Click.

Oh hell - now the fun really starts. :)

I call back, talk to the friendly receptionist, and start to ask for the spelling of Ricky's last name. She's a smart cookie, and even if I wasn't complaining to her, she asked if something was wrong. I, very politely, told her that Ricky had hung up on me (this is now the 2nd time) after telling me that I needed to put everything into writing, so I was calling back to get the spelling of his last name and their office address.

Not 5 minutes later, the phone rings. Oh, look. It's the Broker. Big Boss is now pulled into the loop.

Despite all the hairy details, we manage to have a pleasant conversation. She asks me to excuse Andrew, he's in Sales and is not always in the office.

"Outside Sales?" I ask. "Yes, Outside Sales," she replies.

"Oh, well that's understandable. If he's a Proactive Sales Manager then he shouldn't be in the office between 9-5 if he's doing his job, right?" ;)

Then she explains that Ricky is a tech guru so he doesn't have much personality.

Anybody offended yet?

As if Tekkies are born without manners and hired into Real Estate without a basic understanding of customer service, or people in general. Whatever.

By now, we've finally found out that the Property Management company deposited the rent check into the wrong account. They didn't use the account number my mom had given them.

But Big Boss insists that the bank is the one who mixed up the account numbers. I repeat what she says to me for confirmation, and she verifies, for a 3rd time.

Now I know she's lying. My mom had already confirmed with the bank, that the deposit was made with reference to her name, not her account number.

But let's let Big Boss save face and move on. I told her upfront that I was a bit short with Andrew, that it's a shame I had to get in his face to get him to do his job.

"Well, as long as it works, right?" is what she says.

I figure, "If he learns a lesson from all of this, then that's one good thing that's come out of this."

We'll see.

It's a good thing she called, I had just pulled their info online and was getting ready to write a letter to her, and was even thinking about copying the BBB and California Association of Realty.

They better hope there aren't any negative marks on my mom's credit report...

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That Darn Cat

She woke me up again this morning. Purring loudly, literally walking on top of me looking NOT to cuddle with me, but for a good place to plop down on me. Is she cold or something?! I sleep on my side, which is her favorite spot. Josiah walks in, and stops.

"Uh, Mom? Cleo's lying on top of you."

Grunt.

I have no idea why this cat is all up on me. I'm not a big fan of hers, and I'm the one always shooing her away. She drives me crazy! Climbing on top of my kitchen cabinets (I presume to get away from the dog), using the money tree my parents gave me when we moved in here as a scratching post and snack for all. Eating the leaves?! She'll take naps in my laundry baskets, on top of clean FOLDED LAUNDRY. Grrr.

I once walked into my closet and found piles of folded tops scattered on the floor. "What the - ?"

And found Cleopatra snuggled on the shelf where my clothes were supposed to be.

B***** - I mean... stupid cat. Better stick to Jake.

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