Customer service rants

[darkrose50]

So I am an insurance agent, and I talk with people over the phone (headset).

Me: Hello <introduction>.

Caller: I want to get health insurance.

Me: In order to get health insurance, than you would need to have a reason <on this list>.

Caller: I do have a reason.

Me: It is not on the list.

Caller: But I have a reason.

<this loops for 3-4 minutes, and now I want to bang my head against the wall>

[Peelee]

Caller: I want to get health insurance.

Me: In order to get health insurance, than you would need to have a reason <on this list>.

I would love to get more information about this if forum-appropriate.

[Jay R]

You might try, "My company sells health insurance only for the following reasons." Then it isn't a question of whether the customer has a reason, but explicitly whether the company allows it

[darkrose50]

You might try, "My company sells health insurance only for the following reasons." Then it isn't a question of whether the customer has a reason, but explicitly whether the company allows it

I likely missed some, and some kind of overlap. Basically there are 9-ish categories.

Basically loosing insurance within the last/next 60-days (one still needs to have insurance within the last 60-days, almost always) . . .

. . . due to terminating employment, but not if the person cancelled or did not pay. Usually this means that the person terminated employment (quit or was fired), and the employer terminated the healthcare.

. . . due to moving out of the area that your insurance covered. Almost always this is moving from one state to another. Could be from moving from one zip code to another within the same state, but I have never seen anything like this.

. . . due to moving from another country or protectorate.

. . . due to changing the number of people in your taxable household (birth, adoption, mirage, and such).

. . . due to a court order (after a divorce folks are often ordered to obtain insurance for their kids).

. . . due to being released from prison.

. . . due to aging off your parents plan.

. . . due to the policyholder aging into Medicare, and the spouse and/or kids needing a new policy.

. . . due to the policyholder dying, and the spouse and/or kids needing a new policy.

. . . due to a company no longer qualifying for a group plan.

. . . due to a plan being removed by the insurance company or government.

. . . due to not wanting to renew a yearly plan.

. . . due to (if though the Marketplace, usually for tax credits) your income changing.

. . . due to someone selling their company, and no longer being on the group plan.

. . . due to being denied Medicaid.

-----

At any time if you are a member of a Native American tribe, or an Alaska Native.

-----

Basically I did not pay for my insurance and it terminated, or I self-terminated my insurance, or I don't like my insurance, or I am sick or pregnant are not reasons that I would be legally allowed to sell you insurance under (but depending on stuff calling Medicare or the Marketplace could work).

You might try, "My company sells health insurance only for the following reasons." Then it isn't a question of whether the customer has a reason, but explicitly whether the company allows it

I paraphrased, but no matter what there will be people who will not understand, or there will be folks who will want to argue with you.

We also have a requirement where people need to provide documentation that states "<something happened> to <full name>, and due to <something happening> health insurance was terminated."

Employers like writing letters with "Dear Joe" . . . or "Dear Mr. Smith" . . . not "Dear Joe Smith."

We would need a letter saying: "Joe Smith terminated employment, and as a result lost health insurance on 02-28-2019."

We ALWAYS (well all the time) get: "Joe Smith terminated employment on 02-15-2019. His health insurance terminated on 02-28-2019."

Sometimes it will take over a dozen calls or emails to explain how a "X, caused Y" sentence works. I am not joking.

-----

This is like needing to prove that you made purple by mixing red an blue by saying "Here is purple. I mixed red an blue". It could mean that you mixed red and blue and made purple, but it could also mean that you screwed up mixing red and blue, and went to the store and bought purple.

[Mystic Muse]

I work as a register clerk at a local hobby store for the time being.

I've gotten some silly questions or requests.

"Do I have to pay the sales tax on this?"

"I want an RC Car that goes really fast for under $200."*

"Do you sell pencils?" (We don't.)

"When is the crochet class scheduled?" (...I don't know how this person think we had ome of those, given there's no crochet stuff in the entire store.)

People who come in asking about really specific things for their hobbies, and being almost personally offended when you don't know about them. Like this guy who came in asking about short-wave radios.

*Hobby grade RC cars are expensive. The ones you can get at Wal-mart are cheap because once they break, you're screwed. You can get a hobby grade RC car for under $200. You are paying several hundred more if you want it to go 60+ MPH for any decent period of time.

[truemane]

My previous job was management of a small medical building, one of the things I did sometimes was call people to tell them when their procedure was scheduled and what they had to do first.

Over the years there, I made this call thousands of times. I can still rattle it off in my sleep. It went like:

1. Your [procedure] is scheduled for [date] and [time] at [address]
2. You cannot eat after [time]. You can drink [good beverages] but not [bad beverages]
3. You will have to purchase [product] from any pharmacy. It is prepared and consumed by [instructions]
4. All of the instructions can be found on the website at [website.

And one lady I gave all this to, and she said uh-huh and yes and yup and okay. And then she paused and proceeded to ask me:

1. When is my appointment?
2. What's the address?
3. When do I have to stop eating?
4. What can I drink?
5. What do I have to buy?
6. Where do I get it?
7. How do I use it?
8. Where's your website?

I honestly thought I was being trolled. She (almost) literally asked me, in order, to tell her every single detail I had just told her.

[BWR]

I worked in a grocery store and had someone come in and want a refund for something (I believe it was a pack of meat) that had expired while sitting unused in the customer's refrigerator. It shouldn't have taken as long as it did to argue against that.

Or trying to explain to people that no, I haven't tried every single thing in the store and was not required to.
Or how if you want medical advice you should see a doctor or at least a pharmacist.
And if you want cooking help you should get someone you know, not ask strangers at the store to come and help.

Or one of the local junkies who we called Stinky. hard-core junkies never smell good at the best of times but he was so bad he should have been perma-banned for not only being unpleasant to be around while he was in the store, but leaving behind a noticeable stench that lingered far longer than it should have. I once managed to track his path through the store using nothing but my constantly stuffy nose. I regret testing the hypothesis that this was possible.


Then you have the innocent but still annoying problems of people who don't know the language trying to ask stuff and everyone getting frustrated that we aren't understood. Like asking for red chili when you want raw chicken.

[Teddy]

My previous job was management of a small medical building, one of the things I did sometimes was call people to tell them when their procedure was scheduled and what they had to do first.

Over the years there, I made this call thousands of times. I can still rattle it off in my sleep. It went like:

1. Your [procedure] is scheduled for [date] and [time] at [address]
2. You cannot eat after [time]. You can drink [good beverages] but not [bad beverages]
3. You will have to purchase [product] from any pharmacy. It is prepared and consumed by [instructions]
4. All of the instructions can be found on the website at [website.

And one lady I gave all this to, and she said uh-huh and yes and yup and okay. And then she paused and proceeded to ask me:

1. When is my appointment?
2. What's the address?
3. When do I have to stop eating?
4. What can I drink?
5. What do I have to buy?
6. Where do I get it?
7. How do I use it?
8. Where's your website?

I honestly thought I was being trolled. She (almost) literally asked me, in order, to tell her every single detail I had just told her.

It could be that she by the end of the list realised that she was already starting to forget the exact details, and wanted to repeat them, potentially to write them down.

[2D8HP]

This thread again?

Okay:

Customer: "I want an air filter for motorcycle"

Me: "What kind of motorcycle do you have?"

Customer: "A red one".

[truemane]

It could be that she by the end of the list realised that she was already starting to forget the exact details, and wanted to repeat them, potentially to write them down.

Entirely possible. The call was remarkable to me because she sounded like she was listening and taking notes the whole time (in other words, she sounded like the other seventeen thousand people I've had that same call with) and then, when I was like, "And that's that." She went, "Okay, great, so when's my appointment? And where are you? And when do I have to arrive? And when's my last meal? And what can I drink? And what's your website?"

Almost perfectly in order. As though she had just written down the topic headings while I was talking and then filled them in after. it was very strange.

One more:

I used to work in a garden centre, one that was/is known for having a very robust and 'hassle free' guarantee on plants. And someone called up saying they bought X and Y perennials last year and they didn't come back up this year.

Cool. no trouble, they're guaranteed for 1 year. Bring in the receipt and the plants and we're good.

"I don't have the receipt."

Okay, no problem, just bring in the plants and we'll do a credit or exchange.

"There are no plants, they didn't come back up."

Sure, just dig up the root balls and bring them in and we'll see what we can do.

"I don't remember where I planted them."

So, what then, you expected to just walk in the door and give us a list of plants and we'll just give you money?

[darkrose50]

Every once in a while I get a customer that I think it quality control. They ask questions about the VERY NEXT THING I was going to talk about.

Me: A B C D E

Caller: What about F?

Me: F G H I

Caller: What about J?

Me: J K L M

Caller: What about N?

I had a caller that did this like four times today. Seriously I think that these are either quality control, or the competition.

[Beleriphon]

Every once in a while I get a customer that I think it quality control. They ask questions about the VERY NEXT THING I was going to talk about.

Me: A B C D E

Caller: What about F?

Me: F G H I

Caller: What about J?

Me: J K L M

Caller: What about N?

I had a caller that did this like four times today. Seriously I think that these are either quality control, or the competition.

Mystery shopper. For real, my wife does that sometimes. You call up a place, act like a potential client and ask a bunch of questions. Sometimes the calls are recorded, sometimes not. Its a QA check to make sure staff is doing what they are supposed to do. Really fun at restaurants when you have to complain about "something" and report the response.

[darkrose50]

I am in a bad mood, and annoying people are just making it worse.

Mostly I get mad when people do not listen to the words that come out of my mouth.

-----

Caller: "I got this email with this <identification number> and it says to call this <phone number>".

Me: "There is nothing that I can do with that <identification number>, but I can transfer you to someone who may be able to."

Caller: "<Begins to argue with me>".

-----

Now I should have asked to see this email, because the company I work for sends out stupid correspondence. One of the emails they send out says "provide A or B, and also provide C" when they mean "provide A, and also provide B or C". So I never know who the true idjit is.

To be fair sometimes I am the idjit.

-----

70-80% of the calls that I get have nothing to do with sales. People call in for all kinds of reasons and assume that I can directly help them when I cannot. I can however get them to the right department. I really do not like it when people call me, and want to ramble on. It is not my job to listen to ramblings. I often know exactly what the ---- the caller wants, and just want them to answer the yes/no question so that I can get the caller to someone that can help. I could have 2-3 yes/no questions queued up, and some idjit will give me a three-point essay on why they are calling . . . after each question . . . when my question was something like "are you calling to make a payment?".

Many people do not know how to answer a yes/no question. It is beyond baffling. Answer yes, no, I do not know, or I do not understand the question . . . this is not rocket science. I will be like "is your shirt red" and the idjit on the phone will answer "my shoes are blue", or go on to tell me the history of their insurance claim.

Many people want to argue with me over what I can do. I kid you not. I cannot find anyone in the system with the serial number of the product. Once I inform a caller that that number identifies the product, then the caller should stop wanting to give it to me. This should make perfect sense to everyone. I can not call Toyota and say "I have a Corolla, find me in your system". I cannot find you in the system with your application ID number. It makes sense that I should be able to, but some idjits will argue with me over it. The government sends out messages that say that the caller must pay their initial bill by the 1st or they will burn in hell for all eternity. I am not in billing by the way, but I tell them that they will be able to pay in 5-10 business days. I even EXPLICITELY tell them that I get 4-5 of these calls a day, and then tell then to COMPLETELY ignore the email that they got. I understand why this email from the government would make folks think that they need to make a payment by the 1st, but . . . I kid you not . . . I have to sometimes tell people that this is not the case for ten-solid-minutes. As if after the tenth time the caller asks the question my answer will somehow change.

[Themrys]

-----
This is like needing to prove that you made purple by mixing red an blue by saying "Here is purple. I mixed red an blue". It could mean that you mixed red and blue and made purple, but it could also mean that you screwed up mixing red and blue, and went to the store and bought purple.

You will have to explain to people that you need an exact statement. Many will not understand why they need to word it in a "as a result of" way, because that's not how language usually works.

(I am also confused as to why you would need a reason to sell health insurance. That might be because I live in a different country (where you would be able to get health insurance any time, not just within 60 days after losing it), but I would assume that "I don't currently have health insurance" would be enough of a reason. Perhaps, next time you get an annoying caller, try asking "Why do you not have health insurance right now?" That's more likely to remind people of the reason they lost it (which seems to be what is actually relevant to you) than "why do you want health insurance" which is going to be answered with "well, I might get sick and need it?")

[tyckspoon]

(I am also confused as to why you would need a reason to sell health insurance...

Basically everything related to the US health care system is stupid. Once you understand this fundamental truth, you will be.. well, not less confused, because it still won't make sense, but at least not continually re-confused and surprised every time you encounter a new bit of stupidity.

[darkrose50]

(I am also confused as to why you would need a reason to sell health insurance.

Basically so that people do not sign up for health insurance after they become sick or need a surgery. If the insurance was $1,000 per month, and folks could sign up for a month to have a $100,000 surgery, and then cancel . . . folks would totally do that.

Also we have laws that say if you loose your insurance, then you can get insurance . . . perhaps even better quality insurance. BUT someone cannot be terminated due to not paying their bill, or after self-terminating . . . that would be very similar to the above statement, as some of the insurance products cover healthcare costs more than others. Theoretically the healthcare quality is the same, and just the amount paid by the customer changes. Being able to switch to a plan that is much more expensive before needing expensive healthcare defeats to purpose of having differing plans at differing price-points.

For example we have a plan that comes with radiology (MRI's cat scans and such) covered at 100% with a freestanding location (not a hospital). Something like this could cost $2,000 (or $6,000 in the hospital). Someone would not be able to upgrade before the radiology test, have the $2,000 thing covered, and then downgrade the next month.

So when seeking to obtain health insurance "X resulted in Y" statements are important. "X occurred. Y occurred" statements could be a way to try to trick the insurance company.

Example H quit his job. H's last day insured is J. This is useless in proving that H quit his job, and as result lost his companies health plan. H could have self-terminated, and then quit the job in order to try and trick the insurance company into paying for a $100,000 surgery, or into covering $1,000,000 of cancer care.

Basically insurance works if you pay for it when you don't need it, and breaks if you can get it only when you need it.

[Peelee]

Basically so that people do not sign up for health insurance after they become sick or need a surgery. If the insurance was $1,000 per month, and folks could sign up for a month to have a $100,000 surgery, and then cancel . . . folks would totally do that.
[snip]
Basically insurance works if you pay for it when you don't need it, and breaks if you can get it only when you need it.

Insurance does indeed word like that. Insurance companies doubly so, since they very much want to turn a profit.

[Leecros]

I've been working in the store that I'm in for about a year and have moved from Sales Associate to Assistant Manager pretty quickly. There was a lady who came in tonight who almost made me break my Nice Employee attitude.

It was the end of a very long day filled with rude people, people who can't do math, and a person with quite the sob story about why we needed to do a return on a non-returnable minutes card for her phone. I felt bad for her, but there was nothing that we could do.

Anyway...It was about two minutes until we close and this woman just finished up her purchase when I hear the words that I always dread hearing. "Did the 25% come off those pants?"....because after you paid for them is the best time to bring it up.

Fortunately, I was standing there already starting closeout, so I took over for the associate working with me that evening. I give her my friendliest smile and check her reciept. It showed that her pants were $12.50 and I asked to see the pants and sure enough, they were $12.50. So I respond, "I'm afraid not Ma'am. Could you show me where you got them?"

Generally speaking, we try to work with our customers as best as we can. Sometimes things get put in the wrong location and we did have a clearance sale on winter clothing going on. When that happens, we tend to just take the discount off and make them happy to avoid angry customers calling coorporate. I had assumed that this was the case when we walked back to the clothing aisle.

For context, our clothing aisle is split. The bottom two-thirds of the aisle is clothing on either side and the top third is for other things like socks, shoes, hats, etc. Sure enough, there was 25% off signs back there, but they were very clearly marked as 25% off winter Socks. The signs were hanging down over the clothing a little, but that's only because it's the only way to hang signage down that aisle without obscuring any product. So I politely explain the situation. "I'm sorry ma'am, it appears as if there is a 25% off sale going on, but it's only on Winter Sock" and I clearly point out Winter Socks on the signange.

She sighs, says "Fine." then walks back up towards the register. She sort of grumbles and growls to herself and I offer to do a return on the product and she refused. Her response: "No, I don't want to return them. I just think that it's very deceptive to have a 25% off sign when they're not 25% off."

Yes. It is very deceptive of us to have a 25% off Winter Socks sign placed under the Winter Socks. Maybe you should read the sign instead of just assuming that everything is on sale just because you saw a sign in the general vicinity.

....Is what I would have liked to say, but instead I just said "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way. I wish I could help you more." Then I held the door open for her as she left.

One thing that never fails to irritate me is when people don't bother reading the signs. We have sales stickers that we put out every Saturday/Sunday and I can't count the number of times I have had customers complain because they bring up a 36 ounce* jar of pasta sauce and the sale is on 16-ounce jar's.

Just take a few minutes to read the sign. I promise it won't hurt and it'll make everyone's lives easier.

*An Ounce is about 30 milliliters for you non-Americans)

"I don't have the receipt."

I swear, there's some kind of urban legend that tells of grocery and convenience stores hoarding boxes and boxes of receipt copies in their back room.

The worst case of this that happened to me was a time right before Christmas. A gentleman came in and wanted to return a Christmas tree that he purchased the day before because it wasn't the right kind. He didn't have his receipt. I emphasized to him multiple times that if there was any way that he could salvage the receipt that would be for the best. We can do returns without the receipt, but it has to be on a gift card that can only be used in company stores.

He was not having that. He kept bringing up that he just bought it yesterday and I empathized with him, but that receipt is his proof that he bought it. I can't issue cash back on a receiptless return without being flagged in the system(and you do not want that). After learning that, he went for the classic "Well, don't' you have copies of the receipt?"

No we do not have copies of the receipt. That's why we give them to you. That's why we ask for them when you try to return products. We can't even print out a spare receipt even if we wanted to.

After hearing most of that, he finally pulls The Big One. These aren't exact quotes because it was ages ago, but he expressed quite whole-heartedly that "He's an Accountant and he knows that we have to have that information somewhere."

At this point, I've been arguing with this gentleman for 10-20 minutes and I finally relent. "Yes, I'm sure that corporate does have information that someone bought this Christmas Tree at this store yesterday. However, that information is not readily available to us. If you want, I can give you the number for corporate and you can give them a call, but I don't think that you'll have much luck."

He argued for a few more minutes but ended up relenting after he realized that we didn't have any way to get him an extra receipt. I returned his tree, gave him his card and he declared that he was "never coming back to our store."

...Then his mom came in the next day, apologised profusely to all of us and proceeded to use the card. while saying that she "didn't know what got into him." The gentleman was like 50, but hey that's still young enough to have a mom.

Or one of the local junkies who we called Stinky. hard-core junkies never smell good at the best of times but he was so bad he should have been perma-banned for not only being unpleasant to be around while he was in the store, but leaving behind a noticeable stench that lingered far longer than it should have. I once managed to track his path through the store using nothing but my constantly stuffy nose. I regret testing the hypothesis that this was possible.

I straight up had a guy come in one day asking for "Joint Rolls." Keeping in mind that Marijuana is still illegal in most of the United States. My response was jokingly: "No, It would be illegal for us to sell Joint rolls and we'd have to call the police on you. What we do have though is rolling paper for cigarettes."

It was a bit amusing to see the mix of emotions and realization dawn on his face before he responded with "Oh yeah, that's what i meant. Cigarette rolls."

I don't really care what people do or take after they leave the store, as long as they don't do it or take it in or around the store. However, I really wish that sometimes they wouldn't make it so obvious...

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

"Quote Originally Posted by truemane
"I don't have the receipt."
Quote leecros
"I swear, there's some kind of urban legend that tells of grocery and convenience stores hoarding boxes and boxes of receipt copies in their back room."

Sold auto parts for a bit for one of the nationwide chains. We were supposed to upsell to the longest warranty on everything, take all the customers info, save it for the lifetime warranty. The customer history only retained the last year of data, and the receipt paper would literally turn blank after 18 months, less if left in light.
Great times dealing with irate customers because I couldn't find their warranty info.

Then there was the one lady who screamed bloody murder at me because I couldn't find a replacement rear view mirror with built in navigation for her nearly brand new Mercedes. Didn't want to take "aftermarket companies focus on parts that have a service interval" and "we don't really carry anything that interfaces with brand new Mercedes factory electronics" for an answer.

[Peelee]

Sold auto parts for a bit for one of the nationwide chains. We were supposed to upsell to the longest warranty on everything, take all the customers info, save it for the lifetime warranty. The customer history only retained the last year of data, and the receipt paper would literally turn blank after 18 months, less if left in light.
Great times dealing with irate customers because I couldn't find their warranty info.

That seems scammy at best. Not you, the company.

Anyway. I'm on call last night. Phone woke me up at 6:30 this morning for a guy to ask when we open. Google that, dude.

[tyckspoon]

That seems scammy at best. Not you, the company.

Probably not intentionally, at least, for what it's worth. Thermal paper receipts fade over time and the POS system in question likely had its limits on what information to hold and how long to hold it set long before the chain decided to try and get in on the warranty upsell thing. I'm guessing the various warranties were just in the system as additional SKUs, too, because adding a new module to make them a distinct thing with their own storage record would have cost too much to put in a change/feature development request with whoever made their POS suite.

[Peelee]

Probably not intentionally, at least, for what it's worth.

I'd say it's worth about however much the company made on not honoring warranties it sold.

[SodaQueen]

I once worked at a Home Depot and would have customers come in and were very upset that we were, in fact, not Lowe's.

I-I'm sorry? I can't really help you there my dude.

[Leecros]

I once worked at a Home Depot and would have customers come in and were very upset that we were, in fact, not Lowe's.

The company that I work for shares a similar name to two other chains of stores that all operate in the same region of the country. It's about once or twice a month that I have to explain our relationship with the other stores(or lack thereof). No, I do not have any news regarding what that particular chain of stores is doing. No I do not know if we are closing or the other store up the road from the different chain is closing. I'm afraid that your gift card from that company won't work here. Neither does that reloadable card that says that it can only be reloaded at that specific chain of stores.

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

That seems scammy at best. Not you, the company.

Agreed. Some stuff had part#s cast in it, if you were lucky, others the printed number wouldbe there. We did what we could for people, but once I realized what was happening, I told people to keep receipts, and keep them in a dark place.

[darkrose50]

I kind-of hate it when:

. . . people spell their name when I ask who is calling. I did not ask you to spell your name. Who the heck introduces themselves with the spelling of their name?

. . . do not answer questions. "When did you submit your application?" is a question about a time-frame. Any answer that does not include a date or date range is not answering the question. "I do not know" is also a valid answer, but answer the god-forsaken question.

. . . people want to answer a question not given. Me: "I can look you up with A or B." Caller: "I want to give you C." Me: "C is not A or B." <every day>

. . . do not know how to answer a yes/no question. This is a crazy common communication difficulty that I just cannot fathom. "Is your shirt red?" is not a complicated question. Answer yes/no/I don't know. Getting a yes/no answer out of people is like trying getting an answer out of a politician.

. . . think that I should listen to their story. I am not billing, telling me a story about billing will not solve the issue at hand.

. . . would rather ramble on then answer questions. Some people want to control the call as if they know better than I do on how to do my job. No one is a special snowflake. I have heard it all before. These people just need to sit there and listen to a small number of questions to figure out what department they need to go to. I am tired of people getting all indignant over answering a handful of yes/no questions.

-----

Me: How can I help you enroll?
Customer: I am already enrolled.

Me: What department are you looking for?
Customer: Can't you just listen to my ramblings?

Me: I am in the sales department, and I can help you pick out a plan. Otherwise I can get you over to the correct department.
Customer: Can't you just listen to my ramblings?

Me: Did you call for X?
Customer: Can't you just listen to my ramblings?

Me: Did you call for Y?
Customer: Can't you just listen to my ramblings?

Me: Did you call for Z?
Customer: Can't you just listen to my ramblings?

-----

. . . people that want to control the call or explain things to you that you know . . . even after letting them know that you understand the issue.

Employee: Thank you for coming to the Sandwich Place, home for all your sandwich needs!
Customer: <Rambles on explaining what a sandwich is, and explaining all about the various bits of the #3 Sandwich Place sandwich>.
Employee: That would be the #3 sandwich.
Customer: But you don't understand . . . <ramblings on the explanation covering the #3 Sandwich Place sandwich>.
Employee: I have been making the #3 sandwich for five years . . . I know what it is, and understand the process of making it.

Dealing with people can be frustrating.

[Peelee]

I kind-of hate it when:

. . . people spell their name when I ask who is calling. I did not ask you to spell your name. Who the heck introduces themselves with the spelling of their name?

The only reason you need their name is to look them up or get add them in, in which case the spelling is important. Say someone's first name is Lee. Or is it Leigh? Li? Lea? Or what if Dr. Huffstadtler calls, I'm sure she just wants to get that out of the way.

The spelling thing I never mind. I do hate when people walk in and I ask for their name and they just give one. Like, dude, even if you're a Huffstadtler, we may have multiple ones and I aint gonna break HIPAA because you don't understand the concept that there's more than one person with your last name.

[darkrose50]

The only reason you need their name is to look them up or get add them in, in which case the spelling is important. Say someone's first name is Lee. Or is it Leigh? Li? Lea? Or what if Dr. Huffstadtler calls, I'm sure she just wants to get that out of the way.

The spelling thing I never mind. I do hate when people walk in and I ask for their name and they just give one. Like, dude, even if you're a Huffstadtler, we may have multiple ones and I aint gonna break HIPAA because you don't understand the concept that there's more than one person with your last name.

This is a minor one, but often makes me think that the caller is prone to tangents (I should pay more attention to this to see if it is true). I suppose I want to ask for the spelling if I want it. It seems presumptuous to think that I am taking notes on anything this early . . for all I know the caller called the wrong number. 9/10 times I do not need spellings as I look up customers by SSN or member ID where everything is already spelled out.

[Peelee]

This is a minor one, but often makes me think that the caller is prone to tangents (I should pay more attention to this to see if it is true). I suppose I want to ask for the spelling if I want it. It seems presumptuous to think that I am taking notes on anything this early . . for all I know the caller called the wrong number. 9/10 times I do not need spellings as I look up customers by SSN or member ID where everything is already spelled out.

That makes more sense. Also, the customers who ramble will do so regardless. It is a trap from which there is no escape.

[JeenLeen]

I work with data at a state agency, and (less now than in the past, thankfully) I'd get questions about data we put out. One common thing was an entity calling us to say the data about them is wrong.

Now, that is perfectly within their rights to do and, at least in policy, we appreciate that as it gives a double-check on our work. However, it's annoying when they are rude and antagonistic about it, especially since, of the dozens of times I've had to recheck from the raw individual-level data, its processing through my programs, up to the final deliverables we publish... I think maybe just once in about 10 years was there actually a mistake. Most often it is the entity did something off in their check, either misreading our data or screwing up something in Excel filtering or sorting.

I'm generally pretty good at putting on the polite face, but it is frustrating to go through all the motions (which can take an hour or so up to a day of productivity) while being about 99% sure that I'll find nothing is wrong and am just wasting my time.

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And while I'm editing this to fix a typo: I did work at Sears for a few years, as a stockboy. I do admit it was refreshing to be able to tell a customer who I could not help, "My apologies, but please let me get one of the salesmen who are more familiar with this product."