Today, for some unknown reason, I "turned-the-tables" and became the epitome of the "irate customer"...the kind I hate to get in customer service.
I, and probably most CSRs hate this kind of customer, not because they scare us with their threats and rants, but because if they scream loud enough, they usually get what they want...even if it's not due them. That's so irritating.
This morning I called customer service at my credit union because I noticed they had assessed a $3.00 "maintenance fee" on my savings account.
I have been there over 2 years and never had a fee assessed before. Also, the fee put my savings portion of my account (called formally a "share" account) below the mandatory $5.00 minimum balance.
When I asked the African-American rep about this fee, she said it is charged to any savings account maintaining a balance of less than $50.00. At first I protested snottily saying this must be a new policy because I never have been charged it before...then, I remembered...over 2 months ago, I had transferred everything but $5.00 from savings to checking because the interest rate on the savings is so pitifully low, it made no sense to keep it there. Now I remembered why I had over $50 in there to begin with...I WAS told about the fee when I opened the account so I had always left at least $50 in there. When I brought it down to $5.00, I had totally forgot about the potential fee. So, because of my stupidity, the minuscule earnings I made over the past 2 years were wiped out, and then some, by one "fee". Way to go, Michael!
But the worst incident today was a couple hours ago.
I went back to Wal-Mart on Reinhardt to exchange my blood glucose meter since the battery it came with was dead and despite 5 visits to drug stores, and one "wrong model number" purchase, I was not able to find a replacement for this obscure lithium battery.
I have to admit, things built up in my mind to slowly elevate my temper, some warranted, others most definitely not...
Issue 1.
When I first came here I asked the pharmacy manager, Maneesh Patel, to check to see if my health insurance covered the cost of the meter and the strips.
He said it would take an hour to do the check. (Um, ok, that is fucked up I thought!) I said okay, and would he call me when he finds out. He said he could not call me, I would need to call in.
Begrudgingly, I took the pharmacy business card and said I'd call. After shopping, getting home, putting stuff away, yada yada...I forget to call. No big...I would find out when I pick it up the next day.
I go in the next day and the pharmacy aide handed me a bag containing my stuff. She said the total came to $60 something. Huh? I checked the receipt and supposedly my insurance covered nothing, so I had to pay full price, but also, even though I didn't order them, the bag contained a box of lancets at $16 dollars extra.
I wasn't planning on buying lancets since the meter comes with a small supply and since I am not sharing the meter or testing a gazillion times a day, I was planning on re-using lancets till they got dull (never say that to medical folks, they will wail and moan how you should change them after each single use...what a waste...just to increase the profits of the drug companies). It's just a tiny pin, for cryin' out load...swab it with alcohol after use and it lasts a long time...c'mon people, get real! I'm gonna give a blood borne pathogen to myself, or passive contamination from a "needle" that was only used by me and then cleaned to kill airborne viruses and bacteria?
I paid her but was kinda a punk that day too when she had it all packaged in a white paper pharmacy bag, stapled on the top with the pharmacy fact cards attached at the small crimp, and asked me if I wanted it put into a bag.
I knew what she meant...a plastic grocery bag to make it easier to carry since the crimp was so tight. I said..."Isn't it already in a bag?", smarmy and sarcastic, like as if she was slightly mentally retarded.
I can be such an ass.
Issue 2.
I had been growing concerned at work about the increasing outsourcing the company is doing, especially in customer care.
We have been maintaining our presence in India for a while now and have just this week deployed some 60 other reps in a call center in the Philippines. These reps will gladly work long hours and have few breaks and lunch periods. They are worked in traditional boiler room style call centers and watched with 2 way mirrors and pacing managers. They are kept to a tight script and given the most minimal of training. Whats more, they are a fiscally-conscious executives wet dream...they work for peanuts! $2.00/hour is what I recently heard.
On that salary scale, you could replace almost 20 of us American reps. They do the most horrible job too...but if you can find a few gems that are competent outta them, you can TRIPLE his/her salary and still make out like bandits...but only if you layoff the Americans. What does this have to do with the incident at Wal-Mart...you'll see.
Issue 3.
I didn't feel that great today, and having to wait in line at the pharmacy counter was grueling.
They are so slow there. What's more, the woman in front of me had a boyfriend? with her that reeked of cigarette smoke...he must have just come in from smoking. But, to make matters worse, some Latino family on the side of the line, waiting for something, I don't know what, had a toddler in a baby stroller thing...I guess you call it a stroller...I don't know about these odd things. Well, the little "cherub" (yeah, right!) was screaming up a cry-baby storm, and the adults weren't controlling it too well. But it was obvious why the "lil tyke" was crying...it's diaper was likely burstin' at the seams from the stink of it. Man, who knew little creatures could smell so bad!
I got to the counter and told the aide I needed to exchange the unit since it was defective. The pharmacy manager called me over to the "Drop Off" window continue my transaction.
He stated that the manufacturer of the model of meter I had required him to call into their call center.
Oh boy.
He got a rep on the line and gave the phone to me and said she wanted to speak with me.
Knowing what was occurring here since I am in the field, I knew the rep was going to try to have me do everything I could to avoid returning the item. It's a common tactic used by many companies to reduce cost due to product that can otherwise be repaired or tweaked to work.
Sure enough, she wanted all kinds of customer survey information and wanted to offer to troubleshoot the unit I had or at least mail out a new one from their facility. Neither option by this time was acceptable to me since, though she didn't know it, I had attempted the troubleshoot steps on my own already and would not be returning it if it was not necessary. (From my iCare (in 2004) experience, I do have a familiarity with how these devices work)
Normally, I would have politely asked that the store replace the item and I would have continued with her "survey" questions...but suddenly, I snapped.
Everything had built up to it's boiling point. I felt very much like when I was forced to scream out in hysterics in elementary school after being teased by bullies.
I just let loose...
I yelled at the rep on the phone that I wanted a replacement and slammed the receiver on the pharmacy counter. I yelled out over to the pharmacy aide that I was ready to get my replacement now. The pharmacy manager came over and I nearly screamed that I wanted my replacement.
"Do I need to go pick it off the shelf, as well", I screamed.
"What happened to the phone call with Accu-Check?", he questioned.
"I'm done with that!! I want my replacement right now!", I exclaimed with a snarl.
"But what happened over the phone? I thought...."
"I want the replacement!", I cut in, "Do I need to go to your manager? Just give me the replacement!!", I barked...people beginning to stare.
"Okay...okay...What did she say?", the manager asked, probably thinking it was the rep on the phone who riled me up.
"Look, why don't you understand me...I want the replacement now! I paid for it...this is defective...what's so hard to understand...PATEL!!!"
And I have to admit, I said his name with all the racist hate I could muster.
I am embarrassed by my action and will likely dwell mostly on this aspect of this incident most, since it is the most ugly side of me. I do feel, in what I perceive to be it's rudimentary and unintelligent form, a deep-seated, under acknowledged racism of which I am horrified.
"Sir", he pined with hurt eyes, "you don't need to go there..."
He looked genuinely shocked and mortified.
But, well in my rage, I continued...
"I am feeling dizzy and sick because I am not able to take my blood sugar...you are risking a medical incident here!"
Man, he snapped to it at that and handed me a new meter from the shelf behind me in a flash.
"I need a receipt or I won't be able to leave the store", I said, remembering the anti-theft Gestapo senior citizen Wal-Mart places at exits/entrances supposedly as a "greeter"...they never greet me...they just eyeball me to see if I seem like a thief...
"If they ask, they can call me...", Maneesh offered. "Do you want me to put a label on it?", he asked, meaning the pharmacy label verifying my prescription.
"No!", I exclaimed as I took my box, put it into my empty carriage and scooted my way away from there with 4 or 5 onlookers gawking at me in amazement of the drama they had just witnessed.
I dumped the cart since I realized it'd be best to leave immediately then to continue shopping, and stormed outta the store...Gestapo nowhere in sight (shit, I should have just stolen a new meter and avoided the time and embarrassment!)
So, will I become a grumpy, ugly, fat mean old bastard before my time?
If today is any indication, I'd say I may already, in some respects, be there.
I, and probably most CSRs hate this kind of customer, not because they scare us with their threats and rants, but because if they scream loud enough, they usually get what they want...even if it's not due them. That's so irritating.
This morning I called customer service at my credit union because I noticed they had assessed a $3.00 "maintenance fee" on my savings account.
I have been there over 2 years and never had a fee assessed before. Also, the fee put my savings portion of my account (called formally a "share" account) below the mandatory $5.00 minimum balance.
When I asked the African-American rep about this fee, she said it is charged to any savings account maintaining a balance of less than $50.00. At first I protested snottily saying this must be a new policy because I never have been charged it before...then, I remembered...over 2 months ago, I had transferred everything but $5.00 from savings to checking because the interest rate on the savings is so pitifully low, it made no sense to keep it there. Now I remembered why I had over $50 in there to begin with...I WAS told about the fee when I opened the account so I had always left at least $50 in there. When I brought it down to $5.00, I had totally forgot about the potential fee. So, because of my stupidity, the minuscule earnings I made over the past 2 years were wiped out, and then some, by one "fee". Way to go, Michael!
But the worst incident today was a couple hours ago.
I went back to Wal-Mart on Reinhardt to exchange my blood glucose meter since the battery it came with was dead and despite 5 visits to drug stores, and one "wrong model number" purchase, I was not able to find a replacement for this obscure lithium battery.
I have to admit, things built up in my mind to slowly elevate my temper, some warranted, others most definitely not...
Issue 1.
When I first came here I asked the pharmacy manager, Maneesh Patel, to check to see if my health insurance covered the cost of the meter and the strips.
He said it would take an hour to do the check. (Um, ok, that is fucked up I thought!) I said okay, and would he call me when he finds out. He said he could not call me, I would need to call in.
Begrudgingly, I took the pharmacy business card and said I'd call. After shopping, getting home, putting stuff away, yada yada...I forget to call. No big...I would find out when I pick it up the next day.
I go in the next day and the pharmacy aide handed me a bag containing my stuff. She said the total came to $60 something. Huh? I checked the receipt and supposedly my insurance covered nothing, so I had to pay full price, but also, even though I didn't order them, the bag contained a box of lancets at $16 dollars extra.
I wasn't planning on buying lancets since the meter comes with a small supply and since I am not sharing the meter or testing a gazillion times a day, I was planning on re-using lancets till they got dull (never say that to medical folks, they will wail and moan how you should change them after each single use...what a waste...just to increase the profits of the drug companies). It's just a tiny pin, for cryin' out load...swab it with alcohol after use and it lasts a long time...c'mon people, get real! I'm gonna give a blood borne pathogen to myself, or passive contamination from a "needle" that was only used by me and then cleaned to kill airborne viruses and bacteria?
I paid her but was kinda a punk that day too when she had it all packaged in a white paper pharmacy bag, stapled on the top with the pharmacy fact cards attached at the small crimp, and asked me if I wanted it put into a bag.
I knew what she meant...a plastic grocery bag to make it easier to carry since the crimp was so tight. I said..."Isn't it already in a bag?", smarmy and sarcastic, like as if she was slightly mentally retarded.
I can be such an ass.
Issue 2.
I had been growing concerned at work about the increasing outsourcing the company is doing, especially in customer care.
We have been maintaining our presence in India for a while now and have just this week deployed some 60 other reps in a call center in the Philippines. These reps will gladly work long hours and have few breaks and lunch periods. They are worked in traditional boiler room style call centers and watched with 2 way mirrors and pacing managers. They are kept to a tight script and given the most minimal of training. Whats more, they are a fiscally-conscious executives wet dream...they work for peanuts! $2.00/hour is what I recently heard.
On that salary scale, you could replace almost 20 of us American reps. They do the most horrible job too...but if you can find a few gems that are competent outta them, you can TRIPLE his/her salary and still make out like bandits...but only if you layoff the Americans. What does this have to do with the incident at Wal-Mart...you'll see.
Issue 3.
I didn't feel that great today, and having to wait in line at the pharmacy counter was grueling.
They are so slow there. What's more, the woman in front of me had a boyfriend? with her that reeked of cigarette smoke...he must have just come in from smoking. But, to make matters worse, some Latino family on the side of the line, waiting for something, I don't know what, had a toddler in a baby stroller thing...I guess you call it a stroller...I don't know about these odd things. Well, the little "cherub" (yeah, right!) was screaming up a cry-baby storm, and the adults weren't controlling it too well. But it was obvious why the "lil tyke" was crying...it's diaper was likely burstin' at the seams from the stink of it. Man, who knew little creatures could smell so bad!
I got to the counter and told the aide I needed to exchange the unit since it was defective. The pharmacy manager called me over to the "Drop Off" window continue my transaction.
He stated that the manufacturer of the model of meter I had required him to call into their call center.
Oh boy.
He got a rep on the line and gave the phone to me and said she wanted to speak with me.
Knowing what was occurring here since I am in the field, I knew the rep was going to try to have me do everything I could to avoid returning the item. It's a common tactic used by many companies to reduce cost due to product that can otherwise be repaired or tweaked to work.
Sure enough, she wanted all kinds of customer survey information and wanted to offer to troubleshoot the unit I had or at least mail out a new one from their facility. Neither option by this time was acceptable to me since, though she didn't know it, I had attempted the troubleshoot steps on my own already and would not be returning it if it was not necessary. (From my iCare (in 2004) experience, I do have a familiarity with how these devices work)
Normally, I would have politely asked that the store replace the item and I would have continued with her "survey" questions...but suddenly, I snapped.
Everything had built up to it's boiling point. I felt very much like when I was forced to scream out in hysterics in elementary school after being teased by bullies.
I just let loose...
I yelled at the rep on the phone that I wanted a replacement and slammed the receiver on the pharmacy counter. I yelled out over to the pharmacy aide that I was ready to get my replacement now. The pharmacy manager came over and I nearly screamed that I wanted my replacement.
"Do I need to go pick it off the shelf, as well", I screamed.
"What happened to the phone call with Accu-Check?", he questioned.
"I'm done with that!! I want my replacement right now!", I exclaimed with a snarl.
"But what happened over the phone? I thought...."
"I want the replacement!", I cut in, "Do I need to go to your manager? Just give me the replacement!!", I barked...people beginning to stare.
"Okay...okay...What did she say?", the manager asked, probably thinking it was the rep on the phone who riled me up.
"Look, why don't you understand me...I want the replacement now! I paid for it...this is defective...what's so hard to understand...PATEL!!!"
And I have to admit, I said his name with all the racist hate I could muster.
I am embarrassed by my action and will likely dwell mostly on this aspect of this incident most, since it is the most ugly side of me. I do feel, in what I perceive to be it's rudimentary and unintelligent form, a deep-seated, under acknowledged racism of which I am horrified.
"Sir", he pined with hurt eyes, "you don't need to go there..."
He looked genuinely shocked and mortified.
But, well in my rage, I continued...
"I am feeling dizzy and sick because I am not able to take my blood sugar...you are risking a medical incident here!"
Man, he snapped to it at that and handed me a new meter from the shelf behind me in a flash.
"I need a receipt or I won't be able to leave the store", I said, remembering the anti-theft Gestapo senior citizen Wal-Mart places at exits/entrances supposedly as a "greeter"...they never greet me...they just eyeball me to see if I seem like a thief...
"If they ask, they can call me...", Maneesh offered. "Do you want me to put a label on it?", he asked, meaning the pharmacy label verifying my prescription.
"No!", I exclaimed as I took my box, put it into my empty carriage and scooted my way away from there with 4 or 5 onlookers gawking at me in amazement of the drama they had just witnessed.
I dumped the cart since I realized it'd be best to leave immediately then to continue shopping, and stormed outta the store...Gestapo nowhere in sight (shit, I should have just stolen a new meter and avoided the time and embarrassment!)
So, will I become a grumpy, ugly, fat mean old bastard before my time?
If today is any indication, I'd say I may already, in some respects, be there.