Mom broke her arm just below the ball joint. She got X-rayed. Then the doctor drove her home. The doctor said it was best to put it in a sling. It took me 4 hours to get to her home. And she beat me there.
Rant VIII: The Reckoning
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Thanks, Heph, my dude.Hephaestos is happy and pleased with your gratitude
More seriously, glad she's okay for now and they're together.
And you too, Owl Fellow.
So, I actually got to call my brother today. He does indeed have a brain infection--which one we don't know, but its viral and he thinks it might be viral meningitis. The cultures will come out later. He isnt confused anymore and the medicine seems to be working. They have him on a manner of antibiotics and antivirals. He said he doesn't remember much after getting into the ambulance and working up hours later in the hospital, but at least he sounds coherent and aware. He was moved out of the ICU.
I'm gonna burn out on work here for sure. Since corona, they took the only other person who handles my department with me away, meaning I cannot take any time off now otherwise I'm just delaying work until I get back, to assist with a program called "________ Cares". This is set up to assist our customers struggling with the current climate. Which, admirable, but jesus does that feel one sided.(its also predatory the way they are actually going through with it, but that's another story.)
My workload has tripled and will soon balloon to a point of being unmanageable. I honestly have been waiting since December to see what my raise would have been to decide if I wanted out but now no one is getting anything. And despite being done with it, I basically don't really have any other options and need to be grateful I still have anything at this point. It's turned my one refuge I had from work, my computer desk and gaming pc, into work where I don't even want to use them when I'm done.
My workload has tripled and will soon balloon to a point of being unmanageable. I honestly have been waiting since December to see what my raise would have been to decide if I wanted out but now no one is getting anything. And despite being done with it, I basically don't really have any other options and need to be grateful I still have anything at this point. It's turned my one refuge I had from work, my computer desk and gaming pc, into work where I don't even want to use them when I'm done.
Have to do some self-reflecting after dealing with an unreasonable customer. He wanted to use his own modem for services and refused to listen to reason when I explained that we have to send our own modem.
He continued arguing the point, saying it came from a re-seller using our equipment. I told him that it needs to come directly from us. He kept fighting me on it.
So finally, I put my foot down and said it doesn't matter and I wouldn't continue debating it. I laid out clearly what he needs to do to get service.
He said I was snippy and being a dick. I told him I wouldn't be insulted and closed the chat. My patience had worn thin enough.
He called me a dick multiple times during the interaction, actually.
But I now wonder if I could have handled that interaction better? He adamantly refused to listen to reason, no matter how many times I explained it. Was a rude? Maybe? I sent the chat log to my manager and asked them.
He continued arguing the point, saying it came from a re-seller using our equipment. I told him that it needs to come directly from us. He kept fighting me on it.
So finally, I put my foot down and said it doesn't matter and I wouldn't continue debating it. I laid out clearly what he needs to do to get service.
He said I was snippy and being a dick. I told him I wouldn't be insulted and closed the chat. My patience had worn thin enough.
He called me a dick multiple times during the interaction, actually.
But I now wonder if I could have handled that interaction better? He adamantly refused to listen to reason, no matter how many times I explained it. Was a rude? Maybe? I sent the chat log to my manager and asked them.
Crappy customers can get under your skin and, especially when you're stressed or tired or already not thinking too positively, make you doubt yourself.
I can imagine you got snippy - after a while it is perfectly normal to start to lose your patience.
Did you ever escalate to threats/insults /recalling/demands before they did?
Obviously your manager will have a preference to keep the customer happy and not let anything ever get to you - tolerance for dick customers varies from company to company but there's always some.
Don't worry, I'm sure you did fine or better.
They didn't make demands or insult me but they kept trying to argue about it after I'd already explained it. I just have no patience for someone who won't listen to reason.
Possibly. Does it sound like it would have made a difference with this customer? Probably not.
--Patrick
My favorite in my line is "one moment X, let me go grab my Boss, he has been doing this much longer than myself..."*grab boss who proceeds to ponder the same answer I gave* followed by the customer shouting "FORGET ALL OF YOU! ILL JUST DO IT HOW I FEEL!" or "IM GOING TO ACE/LOWES/HOME DEPOT/etc THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!" yesterday i had this argument with a guest who needed a 240 volt 20 amp receptacle for his A/C
they are suppose to be mirrored, its the only way to make them connect.
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Yeah, unless my answer was verbatim "Yessir, you can definitely use that modem!" nothing would have pleased him.
Once they start with the insults, and especially f-bombs, the conversation is over. And no, you cannot speak to a manager. It's 2 in the morning.
I think I mentioned before that one brat tried recording me refusing her a room and posting the video on facebook. She didn't get the response she expected, and I got praise from coworkers and supervisors on how I dealt with her bullshit.
I think I mentioned before that one brat tried recording me refusing her a room and posting the video on facebook. She didn't get the response she expected, and I got praise from coworkers and supervisors on how I dealt with her bullshit.
I, personally, am of the opinion that it's not ok to be incvivil to people like this. When he starts hurling insults at you like this, you're well within your rights to shut him down as bluntly as possible. Would that be seen as rudeness? For some people, possibly yes. But too bad, if he wants to act like an immature brat then he can be treated like one.
Honestly, part of it was my own doing because I was tired of arguing with him over it. When I said I wouldn't debate the matter with him and this is what is required to get services, that's when he became rude. He said something to the extent of "Okay man, you don't need to get snippy. You don't need to be a dick." Yadda yadda. Then I repeated what I told him. He demanded to talk to a manager. At which point I told him to call our main number and ask to speak with one because managers are available on chat (which they aren't.). He called me a dick again, at which point I said, "I will not be insulted. Thank you for contacting *company* and have a great day" and closed the chat.
I know it's not as satisfying, but you handled that with a lot of class, unlike the douche you were talking to.
I am seriously getting so very angry at everything. I'm amazed I can still get angrier. It's not helping that my mom being stuck on the couch immobile has made her start looking at Facebook again, and she's sending me Fox news articles over text and email (which I delete without even looking at them). She literally goes on a ranting spree about how I don't understand how the world works everytime I disagree with her, which has been her default argument since I've been a teenager, never mind that I'm turning 40 in a few months and have lived in more places than just the same echo chamber she has lived in her whole life.
All of this bullshittery has served to remind me of why I get so angry at my daughter when she plays down her intelligence. Growing up, I got called a know it all every time I dared to contradict anything an adult said, and got shit on everytime I tried to share things I learned to the point that I lost confidence in my ability to actually know things other people don't, to the point that I made anything I ever said a question, or with an unsure inflection in my tone to invite other people to think that I'm not challenging them. It's something that's also omnipresent in society as a whole, and something that I really have been trying hard to fight out of myself. So I try really hard to not let that happen to my daughter too, but it's hard when we're together every day and she's at the phase where everything we do is wrong.
I was originally going to say something in the politics thread, but it turned in to a rant so I moved it.
All of this bullshittery has served to remind me of why I get so angry at my daughter when she plays down her intelligence. Growing up, I got called a know it all every time I dared to contradict anything an adult said, and got shit on everytime I tried to share things I learned to the point that I lost confidence in my ability to actually know things other people don't, to the point that I made anything I ever said a question, or with an unsure inflection in my tone to invite other people to think that I'm not challenging them. It's something that's also omnipresent in society as a whole, and something that I really have been trying hard to fight out of myself. So I try really hard to not let that happen to my daughter too, but it's hard when we're together every day and she's at the phase where everything we do is wrong.
I was originally going to say something in the politics thread, but it turned in to a rant so I moved it.
I am so fucking tired of customers snapping at me and arguing with them for shit I have no control over or for just doing my job.
Like, we have a department for loyalty or retention offers. But the only way we can even suggest referring a customer to it is if they specifically say they're cancelling and switching providers. By the time they do, I've already argued with them for at least 20 minutes. Usually hearing the phrase "So that's the best you can do for a LOYAL customer?!" Or telling them the offers on the website are only the new customers. So I have to fight with them, hearing them go on about their life story until finally, FINALLY they say "Guess I'll shop around then."
Like, for fucks sake, it's such a waste of BOTH of our time because it sometimes takes forever for them to just get to point I know is coming. If they get to it at all. As soon as they call or chat in saying "My bill is too high every month!" I know exactly what conversation I'm going to have and have it memorized almost line by line because there is little variation. Because what I can offer and what the loyalty department has access to is not the same thing. So I have to do the exact same song and dance every time, dozens of times every day, and I'm the one that gets yelled at like it's my fault while the loyalty department gets to look like the hero.
Ugh.
I hate customers.
I hate customer service.
Like, we have a department for loyalty or retention offers. But the only way we can even suggest referring a customer to it is if they specifically say they're cancelling and switching providers. By the time they do, I've already argued with them for at least 20 minutes. Usually hearing the phrase "So that's the best you can do for a LOYAL customer?!" Or telling them the offers on the website are only the new customers. So I have to fight with them, hearing them go on about their life story until finally, FINALLY they say "Guess I'll shop around then."
Like, for fucks sake, it's such a waste of BOTH of our time because it sometimes takes forever for them to just get to point I know is coming. If they get to it at all. As soon as they call or chat in saying "My bill is too high every month!" I know exactly what conversation I'm going to have and have it memorized almost line by line because there is little variation. Because what I can offer and what the loyalty department has access to is not the same thing. So I have to do the exact same song and dance every time, dozens of times every day, and I'm the one that gets yelled at like it's my fault while the loyalty department gets to look like the hero.
Ugh.
I hate customers.
I hate customer service.
It's pretty common with telecommunications companies, in my experience. Bell is the same way. Not that it makes this any better.
Oh yes. I work in CT support (Customer Technology) so we're technically IT, and not Customer Service. Obviously we can do things CS can't. On the other hand, we get a LOT of customers directly calling us "because we've helped them in the past". Yes, I helped you when you had a technical issue. "Why is my shipment two days overdue?", though? I have no clue. Maybe the driver had a flat, maybe Santa abducted him to help fight the Space Giants. I can't see it, and even if I could, I won't, because it's very much not my job. If it's somewhat tech-related but technically CS, sure, I'll help - how to register or change your password or that stuff.
But customers can really be THE WORST.
And idiotic corporate rules (such as your "you can't transfer them unless they say they'll leave") only make things worse.
But customers can really be THE WORST.
And idiotic corporate rules (such as your "you can't transfer them unless they say they'll leave") only make things worse.
What's most aggravating about it is it only gets them worked up to the point of exploding. And I have to take the brunt of it every time. Because I literally have no options to even suggest to them,save for removing features, downgrading, or going into a promotional bundle with a new added service (say if they have just internet and add TV). And the shit I have to offer NEVER works.
I know it's not much consolation to you, but whenever I'm trying to get a sweeter deal from my cable or phone company, the first thing I say to customer service is "I know you really can't help me out. Please just transfer me to retention"
I read an old sci-fi story once that predated actual space travel (i.e., was written before we’d actually sent anything into space, had no idea what would really happen up there, etc.). The going theory at the time was that leaving the atmosphere would expose astronauts to some kind of deadly space radiation that would kill them. The big breakthrough in the story was that they could avoid this by lining the hull with oysters and other “lowly” shellfish. Ship goes into space, deadly radiation kills the outermost layer of mollusks, astronauts survive and return to Earth, replace with fresh oysters prior to the next journey.
It almost sounds like they hired you to be an oyster.
—Patrick
Scanners Live in Vain?
Yep, it’s the Scanners one. I hope you didn’t have to dial your brain box up to overload to remember it, if you need a break then maybe we can Cranch later.
—Patrick
A fellow Cordwainer Smith fan! I love you!
I am getting 3 calls a day about the warranty expiring on my 11 year old car. I just want to throttle these people.
Heh, even there, I think we're supposed to try discussing the matter with the customer first.I know it's not much consolation to you, but whenever I'm trying to get a sweeter deal from my cable or phone company, the first thing I say to customer service is "I know you really can't help me out. Please just transfer me to retention"
Minor update to my aunt.
My aunt was actually a TV presenter in the 90s. Back then, Taiwan only had 3 channels on television, and she was the presenter for a singing competition show that was broadcast on Sunday evenings. In other words, she was on TV every weekend, and a ton of people grew up watching her. For a roughly equivalent level of fame, think Vanna White.
News of her passing broke yesterday, and there have been a bunch of articles written about her on news sites, and shared on social media like Facebook. And pretty much all the comments have been positive. People have been expressing their best wishes, and sharing their fond memories of watching her on TV. It's very heartening to see how she touched so many people, and was such a part of everyone's childhood.
I'm really sorry, Bhamv. Mr. Z asked that I send along his condolences as well, especially considering he used to be on that TV show with her.
Nothing like waking up to get two e-mails that someone in Taiwan has accessed your Amazon account and changed your e-mail on the account. Discovered it WASN'T a phishing e-mail. Instead of clicking on anything in the e-mail, I tried Amazon and couldn't log in.
I immediately called the help line on their webpage and they froze the account for me. So now I need to wait a few days for that to be resolved. Ugh.
Now I'm not sure if I should change all my passwords on everything. Don't know how they accessed my account in the first place. Oh, and I checked my credit card information and fortunately there have been no new pending transactions on either.
I immediately called the help line on their webpage and they froze the account for me. So now I need to wait a few days for that to be resolved. Ugh.
Now I'm not sure if I should change all my passwords on everything. Don't know how they accessed my account in the first place. Oh, and I checked my credit card information and fortunately there have been no new pending transactions on either.
This happened to me on Friday about two weeks back, though from a Russian email.
Amazon were surprisingly quick to resolve it. I called them about 3 and by 11:30 that night everything was reversed. I changed all my passwords to be safe and also turned on their 2fa I'd been meaning to anyway.
Good luck!
The nice thing about Amazon is that if any important info changes, that won't use your saved cards unless you can input it again.
Wasn't me!