Letting it "roll off your back"?

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if you have to move away somewhere in order to find less hostile work, it would be well worth it IMHO.

Oh my word, that was a really nightmarish call. That woman made it really personal, with the goading words. That's horrible. I thought I'd had some rude mama-duckers in my time, but what you describe there is really nasty.

I personally feel like customer service is seriously some kind of Twilight Zone preview of a Hell dimension.

I second auntblabby's suggestion of trying to do something entrepreneurial, even if it's a yard work/lawn mowing service locally -- just anything that might be a different direction for you, and less pressure.

If the call is too short they won't get a chance to vent--they will call again and bother someone else, which means you haven't done your job. Your job is actually to listen.

I had a job like that a long time ago - mine was at a credit union in loan approvals. They wanted us to be quick on the phone and efficient, and they had this timer up to let you know how many calls were waiting and how long you had been on the phone. Yeah no pressure.

So I was really good at getting people taken care of and off the phone - and my managers DISCIPLINED me for that, because I wasn't "spending enough time with the customer."

Yeah that's crap. That was the only job I just walked out of.

Oh boy, here's a good one.

Her: "My husband tried to buy three Visa gift cards, but they were all busted. We want our money back, but they said it'll take three days! Well, that is bull s***!"

(Electronic refunds have to process through our system, which can take three days minimum for you to get your money back)

Me: "I apologize, but we can't speed that process up. It's out of our hands."

Her: "Excuse me? That is bulls***! I know you can do it! I've seen you do it!"

Me: "No ma'am, we can't."

Her: "My husband was yelling so much that he got escorted out of the store by the police! How is this good customer service?"

Me: "There's really nothing else I can say about it, ma'am. We can not do this any faster than we already are."

Her: "Oh, so you're happy that you're screwing customers over?"

Me: "You're not being screwed over, ma'am. We are sorry you got sold a defective product, and you will be getting your money back. You're just going to have to wait the normal amount of time like everyone else."

Her: "It is two days from Christmas! How am I supposed to get presents for my kids if a refund takes three days?"

Me: "Again, I apologize ma'am, but Walmart is not responsible for your Christmas shopping."

Her: "Excuse me?"

Me: "We do not take responsibility for the fact that you waited until two days from Christmas to do your shopping."

Her: "HOW. DARE. YOU. How dare you judge me like that? You don't know what my story is! You don't know what I've been through!"

Me: "I'm not judging you, I'm just--"

Her: "For all you know, I just got out of the hospital! Or someone in my family died! How dare you say that to me?"

Me: "Ma'am, all I'm saying is--"

Her: "Get me your manager."

Me: "My managers are not available for calls right now." (THIS. FREAKING. RULE.)

Her: "So they just let ***holes like you run wild? Wow, that is so Walmart."

Me: (trying to get things back on track) "Ma'am, I can file a complaint to the store for selling you defective merchandise if you want, but--"

Her: "No, I don't want you to do anything. I am going to destroy Walmart for this, do you hear me? I have thousands of friends on social media, and I'm going to tell every single one of them about this, and about you. I'm going to get on the news and tell them about you. I am going to get your worthless *** fired!"

Me: "I'm sorry you feel that way, ma'am." (because what else can I say?)

Her: "What's your last name?"

Me: "We don't give our last names, ma'am, as that is a security risk."

Her: "That's fine, I'll find out. You think I can't find out? I know this call is being recorded, and I know your managers won't protect you after the things you've said to me. I'll find out, and I will get your *** fired!"

Me: (because this is obviously going nowhere) "All right. Well, if there's nothing else I can help you with, I'll go ahead and let you go. If you have a minute--"

Her: "You'll be fired! You are going to lose your job, you worthless ****ing piece of *** trash!"

Me: "-- to take my survey, I'd appreciate it. Have a good day.

*hang up*





...
yaaaaay.

Well, ThisAdamGuy,

I think you're doing a great job.

I did a call centre job for a couple of months, years ago. I got everything from "I'm telling the newspapers about you" to "you're picking on me because I'm Irish". The wages were a joke. One day I just walked out and never went back.

Seriously, get out as soon as you can.

I think my favorite is still "pancake discrimination." She called to complain that we had stopped selling single serving packages of Great Value pancake mix and were only selling family size. She said she felt like we were discriminating against single people and saying, "You only deserve pancakes if you've gotten married and had children." Best part is, any time the caller says the word "discrimination" it becomes an ethics issue, and we have to send it to our ethics team for investigation. They usually handle things like racism, gender or sexual discrimination, serious problems like that. That day, though, they got to hear about pancake discrimination. I hope they found it as funny as I did.

I find it really hard to let things roll off my back. I work as a cleaner at a care home, and sometimes the residents with Dementia can be very difficult.

OK, I understand what Dementia is and I am fully aware of how confused and lost they must be feeling, and I know they can say inappropriate things, but I still get sensitive to it. Often the nurses just grin and get on with it, but I kind of shy away and want to go away to cry. Even if I tell myself not to get upset, I still can't stop the tears from coming. This is why I stay a cleaner, because you don't have to directly care for the residents. You just make sure the home is clean.