Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!
- Thread starter strawman
- Start date
I want to run an Ethernet cable in my living room from the nearby switch to my father-in-law's computer rather than having to deal with the current WiFi setup which exists solely so his computer can be on the other side of the room from ours. I broke out some kite string because I want to know whether I'm going to have to buy a 25-foot cable or a 50-foot cable.
It's 25 and a half feet.
--Patrick
It's 25 and a half feet.
--Patrick
Time to start making your own cables.I want to run an Ethernet cable in my living room from the nearby switch to my father-in-law's computer rather than having to deal with the current WiFi setup which exists solely so his computer can be on the other side of the room from ours. I broke out some kite string because I want to know whether I'm going to have to buy a 25-foot cable or a 50-foot cable.
It's 25 and a half feet.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Yeah, couplers are a thing. I've had to use them countless times.
Couplers make me cringe, but that’s mainly from my days of doing support for a dialup ISP. I can’t handle anything other than a straight shot with a single cable.
GasBandit
Staff member
On an analog run, oh I agree. But Gigabit Ethernet over cat 6 is a lot more fault tolerant.
I know it shouldn’t matter, it’s just one of those compulsive habits I can’t get over. Plus nothing looks better than clean perfect length cabling. I wish I could easily terminate my own HDMI and USB cables.
Dear person who has been setting off fireworks in my neighborhood for the past few hours:
FUCK. OFF.
FUCK. OFF.
At the airport for our honeymoon atm, waiting to board...
I have been vomiting all night and morning, also have diarrhea like you wouldn't believe. I'm as weak as a kitten. Literally can't even keep down a glass of water.
And my wife in the mean time has a throat infection/sinus infection, so she feels like absolute crap too, and she has her period which also doesn't help.
We're truly off to a good start.
I have been vomiting all night and morning, also have diarrhea like you wouldn't believe. I'm as weak as a kitten. Literally can't even keep down a glass of water.
And my wife in the mean time has a throat infection/sinus infection, so she feels like absolute crap too, and she has her period which also doesn't help.
We're truly off to a good start.
This is why my wife and I didn't have our honeymoon until one year after our wedding. We gave ourselves time to recover from the stresses of the wedding itself.
Also we were poor.
After a bad day of several customers yelling at me today, I've been struggling (and failing) all night to calm down from the anger. I'm so fucking sick of being yelled at all day, every day.
If you think yelling at service agents doesn't affect them, think again.
If you think yelling at service agents doesn't affect them, think again.
Yelling at front-line service workers is incomprehensible to me. It's not like you guys are the ones calling the shots, nor does yelling at you cause your company to change its policies.
I mean, maybe I'm just lucky and I've never been driven so mad by a corporate entity that I couldn't keep in my anger. But I'm more inclined to think that basic civility is not hard, and someone who fails at being civil is more or less failing at being a person.
As a service agent (of sorts), I know better. "Hey, let's work together to solve this," not RARRARARRARARARAARRRRR in an attempt to bully to get what I want.
It is completely comprehensible to me, but in the opposite way to what you're probably thinking. "Important" people hire front-line service workers to act as a sort of ablative armor in order to insulate themselves from the hassle.
FWIW, I derive great satisfaction from outlasting a bully, so I have somewhat of a perverse incentive to see the interaction through to the end.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Customers suck, and every single "customer service" system I've ever encountered has been designed to completely remove any actual "job doers" and "decision makers" from interacting with unhappy customers. Usually this is accomplished by, as PatrThom says, creating a layer of high turnover positions to interact with said customers and using these employees up and replacing them. Like brake pads.
So, unfortunately, the burnout Nick experiences is by design. Because chewing through people as if they were disposable is cheaper for companies than actually addressing customer satisfaction issues. After all, if people quit before their first annual review, that means your workforce is always at entry level compensation.
So, unfortunately, the burnout Nick experiences is by design. Because chewing through people as if they were disposable is cheaper for companies than actually addressing customer satisfaction issues. After all, if people quit before their first annual review, that means your workforce is always at entry level compensation.
I feel offended and attacked, but at the same time can't argue.
The... Multi-billion international company I work for whose name I don't mention (because I'm sharing proprietary info here), is seeing quite disastrous figures on customer satisfaction and NPS (net promoter score - percentage of customers who'd suggest you to their friends or colleagues etc, though it's supposedly slightly more complicated than that).
Our service quality (especially in Europe) has taken a nose dive after the horribly implemented and badly managed integration of... Let's say, our purple and orange networks. Randomly chosen colors, of course. Anyway, for a while, the odds of an international package within Europe arriving on our before the intended date were actually below 50%. Which resulted in a whole lot of complaints. Which overburdened CS. Which led to CS employees leaving and/or dropping out due to burnout. Which led to fewer and less experienced (and/or less trained) CS reps. Which led to longer wait times and slower uptake. Which led to more complaints, which (etc).
Anyway, the "solution" so far has been to... Slash our bonuses (upper management still got theirs, though), and replace the front line with an automated system. Please press 1 for prices, 2 for tech support, 3 for sales, insert a cucumber up your ass and do the hokey pokey for complaints, style thing.
SHOCKINGLY our satisfaction and retention numbers are now dropping even further.
I really can't wait to see what Our Glorious Leaders will think of next to improve our bottom line.
I'm guessing it won't be "listen to the people who actually deal with our customers daily" though.
The... Multi-billion international company I work for whose name I don't mention (because I'm sharing proprietary info here), is seeing quite disastrous figures on customer satisfaction and NPS (net promoter score - percentage of customers who'd suggest you to their friends or colleagues etc, though it's supposedly slightly more complicated than that).
Our service quality (especially in Europe) has taken a nose dive after the horribly implemented and badly managed integration of... Let's say, our purple and orange networks. Randomly chosen colors, of course. Anyway, for a while, the odds of an international package within Europe arriving on our before the intended date were actually below 50%. Which resulted in a whole lot of complaints. Which overburdened CS. Which led to CS employees leaving and/or dropping out due to burnout. Which led to fewer and less experienced (and/or less trained) CS reps. Which led to longer wait times and slower uptake. Which led to more complaints, which (etc).
Anyway, the "solution" so far has been to... Slash our bonuses (upper management still got theirs, though), and replace the front line with an automated system. Please press 1 for prices, 2 for tech support, 3 for sales, insert a cucumber up your ass and do the hokey pokey for complaints, style thing.
SHOCKINGLY our satisfaction and retention numbers are now dropping even further.
I really can't wait to see what Our Glorious Leaders will think of next to improve our bottom line.
I'm guessing it won't be "listen to the people who actually deal with our customers daily" though.
In the states here, but I cringe whenever a shipment comes via BubbleCarrier, 50-50 shot they won't find house or deliver wrong day. Brown has no problems. I paid BubbleCarrier extra a few months ago for a shipment to arrive on a particular date and within a particular time window so that I'd be home to keep a surprise from the SO. Instead, it arrived early, while I wasn't home, SO spoiled surprise, and I had no valid avenue for complaining because they didn't scan it as 'delivered' until 4 minutes into the intended time window. Yes, I'm part of the reason for those scores. Sorry, Bubble!
Reddit mandates a login now to view anything tagged as NSFW.
The little note in the corner proclaims "If you want to browse anonymously, you need to install the actual reddit app."
Really, reddit? Browse anonymously through an app I have to enter my email in order to acquire? Are you suuuuuure?
--Patrick
The little note in the corner proclaims "If you want to browse anonymously, you need to install the actual reddit app."
Really, reddit? Browse anonymously through an app I have to enter my email in order to acquire? Are you suuuuuure?
--Patrick
This is why I have a second account using a throwaway email for all NSFW content on Reddit.
Yes, the second account is called "bhamv2".
Right, I just haven't had the need for one, until now.
I don't mind creating an alias, I just mind that now I gotta do the whole VPN thing too, cuz it ain't that hard for them to be like, "These two users tend to come from the same IP address, hmmmmm..."
--Patrick
I don't think Reddit cares if a user has multiple accounts. There are several subreddits that even encourage the use of throwaway accounts.
Although based on my experience, Reddit can spot when you're trying to upvote your own posts with alt accounts, and will prevent those upvotes from registering.
I did something mildly stupid at work today. Got a call from a customer...who turned out to be Dad.
The call wasn't anything major or dramatic. He just wanted to know how much his monthly rate was and change the credit card on the account for automatic payments (which agents like me don't take verbally on the phone but transfer them to an automated system).
I didn't treat him differently from any other customer, verified the account per protocol, yadda yadda yadda.
Except...that's still technically a conflict of interest. Part of the reason I just took the call anyway is because we have ridiculous wait times in our queue for the last few months. I'm talking a minimum of an hour wait just to speak to the first level like my useless ass. Today it was sometimes close to two hours. And I didn't want to waste his time on what was an easy call, anyway.
I immediately emailed my manager and basically reported myself. He replied that it's fine this time but next, get someone else to call him back.
Hopefully I'm not in any more trouble over this. I'm hoping it looks good that I at least reported myself over the whole thing.
The call wasn't anything major or dramatic. He just wanted to know how much his monthly rate was and change the credit card on the account for automatic payments (which agents like me don't take verbally on the phone but transfer them to an automated system).
I didn't treat him differently from any other customer, verified the account per protocol, yadda yadda yadda.
Except...that's still technically a conflict of interest. Part of the reason I just took the call anyway is because we have ridiculous wait times in our queue for the last few months. I'm talking a minimum of an hour wait just to speak to the first level like my useless ass. Today it was sometimes close to two hours. And I didn't want to waste his time on what was an easy call, anyway.
I immediately emailed my manager and basically reported myself. He replied that it's fine this time but next, get someone else to call him back.
Hopefully I'm not in any more trouble over this. I'm hoping it looks good that I at least reported myself over the whole thing.