Customer Service

This last week I spent a good amount of time on the phone with people who are in customer service. Some of these calls were to people who work in local government, others were for different insurance companies, and a couple of calls were to car dealerships. When talking on the phone with these individuals I typically make some assumptions about the person on the other end of the phone. First, I assume this isn’t their dream job. I have never heard a young person say, “I would like a job in customer service. I hope that someday I can answer the phone all day long and talk to people who are angry or disappointed.”  I also assume they are making minimum wage or maybe just a little more. I am pretty sure these are entry level positions. I imagine that they are bored; I visualize there is little drama at their call centers.  And finally, I assume that they are not incentivized to solve my problem; they will get paid the same whether I am happy or not. 

Because of these assumptions, I try hard to be cheerful, have a sense of humor, say something interesting or ask a question to relieve the boredom, and reassure them I am not holding them responsible for my problem. I also work to communicate that I am happy they answered the phone, and that I am sure they are delightful people should we ever meet face to face. 

Often, before the call is over, we have laughed together, and I am reasonably sure they have done all they can to help. Often, they can’t help

with the problem I am calling about, but more than once I have been surprised that they were able to help more than I thought they could. 

However, there are some folks on the other end of the line who are grumpy, and it feels like they have no interest in helping me at all. This is not surprising. Given my assumptions about their job I expect that they would be irritable. However, after I have had a few unpleasant conversations, I find myself getting angry. It takes an act of the will to keep a positive, cheerful attitude, put on a smile, and remind myself these people have a very difficult job and probably a very difficult life. 

I am encouraged by how many answer my call and engage with me, a stranger they will never meet, in a friendly conversation. These hours which I have spent on the phone remind me that I have the opportunity to influence the world for good by being positive and trying to understand the perspective of someone I don’t know who is answering the phone. I am also reminded how easy it is to get angry and cynical.

We all have phone conversations with people we will never meet. I wonder how often we are careful with what we say in these conversations. Jesus said that we will be judged for every careless word we have spoken (Matthew 12:36-37). It is my desire that every conversation I have leaves people feeling better than they were before we talked. I know that is an impossible goal, and often I have gotten frustrated with someone in customer service and said unkind words. But I want to do better.

I pray that you will think about all your conversations and it would be your desire to always bless the people you are talking with, even when it is a conversation with someone in customer service.