ARGH (It's the Little Things that Get Ya)

Poststructural Pub
1

So I work as the evening service writer at an auto dealership, and deal daily with trying to extract clarity out of a variety of communication “styles” on the part of the customers. It can be like pulling teeth sometimes, but that’s part of the job, and it’s not my beef. I have learned, myself, to be to the point as much as possible at work, as I greatly dislike the results of confusion and vagaries on the job. Now, people drop their vehicles off evenings for work the next day, and we tell them in advance to drive right on in and we’ll take care of them. Rain or shine, the majority park outside, walk up to the service desk to let me know that they’re here.

“Would you drive your vehicle in so we can write it up?” (There’s just me at the helm and I have to mind the phone, too)

“You mean you want me to bring it in?”

“Yes, please.” (What’s not to understand???)

“Bring it in.”

“Yes.”

“But it’s not being worked on 'til tomorrow.”

“Yes, I know. It’s okay. Anyway, I need the light of the shop to read those little numbers.”

“I didn’t want to be in the way.”

“Thanks. But see those guys standing around over there? We pay them to move vehicles, and I LOVE seing them earn their money.”

Now the customer has to walk all the way back to where he or she parked, and drive in as we always urge them to. I see this as a waste of their time, not mine. After all, I’m there until it’s time to leave. I’m sure they have better things to do.

“Thanks. Next time, don’t be shy; think of this drive-up area as YOUR spot. Just drive straight on in, If the door’s closed, we’ll gladly open it.”

“Well, I just wasn’t sure…”

“No problem at all.”

Next overnight drop: “Hi; I’m here to drop off a truck for service tomorrow.”

“You bet. Would you drive it on in so we can write it up?”

“You mean you want me to drive my truck in?”

“(Oh, Lord, not another one) Yes, ma’am. Have you had service here before?”

“TSK Well, yeah. For years.”

And so it goes…

Vent your spleen here, Chiffers. This is all about sweating the small stuff, and, with luck, doing so with good grace, or at least a perma-grin.

2

Dry Martini stirred, room temp.
Is it that hard to understand?

3

You mean you don’t want it shaken, with ice, for 5 minutes?

:confused:

Dang, a martini sounds good.. I’m outta here!

:smiley:

4

I’m afraid so.

5

Nano, welcome to customer service. The other day our server was acting up and so no public internet terminals were operating. We had signs all over the place, front door, back door, on the elevator and escalator on every terminal NO INTERNET SERVICE AVAILABLE! AND we still got asked “Is Internet working?” at least every two minutes.

MarkB

6

Okay, BUT—

One time I drove straight into an auto repair place and my car went down into a deep pit. My mom and I were just sitting there at a 45 degree angle. Then these MEN come up and tell me don’t I know that you never, ever, ever, ever drive your car right on into a garage. And my mom carryin’ on like I’d just driven her into the lowest depths of hell, moaning about what my dad was going to say. Yeah, I livened up their day alright. I say don’t leave the damn door open if you don’t want a customer trying to be efficient to drive right on in.

So I would not drive right on in no matter what someone told me on the phone. Maybe your customers have been traumatized by earlier experiences. :astonished:

7

It’s check day (1st or 3rd of the month, take your pick). Someone , sometimes more than one,does not get their check so they call to "see if you’ve got in back there in the office somewhere. This question is often salted with @#$%%^.

I always want to say "yeah, I like holding folks mail to make them mad enough to cuss me. I enjoy that.(this is sarcastic, by the way)

If it comes in, I do deliver the mail, but I can’t take it out if it doesn’t come in.

8

I’m not so sure how to reply.

A typical “service call” for me:

“Hi! Hi . . . I’m [so-and-so]. My [father/brother/son/daughter/wife/husband/mother/friend] has been diagnosed with late-stage [terrible cancer type]. We saw your name as a contact for a similar disease and wondered if you had a study we could look into.”

Me: [trying to be genuinely hopeful and helpful, having lost several friends and family members to cancers], “I hope so. What dsease has your loved one been afflicted with?” (because, at this point, to hell with proper grammar, y’know?)

Them: [Terribe rare untreatable thing]

Me: "Oh. I’m sorry, we don’t have a study currently in [said disease]. Please try the following websites

  • . I hope everything works out." I do my best, as do my colleagues.

Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s even annoying, in some way, because we are all wokring so hard but gaining so little ground in important ways; and sometimes even good people can also be mean and selfish (or short-sighted) when they’re worried about a loved one. But I always try to stay myself, thinking, at what point may we be selfish and demandng, if not when a loved one is so desperately in need of care?

The best part of my job is contributing to the creation of a successful treatment to some terrible disease. It happens less often than I’d like, but it does happen, and that is so cool. But when you fail a person – almost anyone – it sucks so bad. It is so hard to lose someone you love, or even to feel partway responsible for the loss of someone else’s loved one.

Then it’s not so fun.

I go back and forth. Life is a funny damn thing. Thank god for music, yeah?

9

Store hours posted on door: 8 am to 7 pm M-Sat, 9-6 Sun

6:55 pm announcement over the intercom: Good evening shoppers, we will be closing in 5 minutes. Please bring your purchases to the checkout. We will open again at 8 am.

7 pm announcement over the intercom: Good evening shoppers, the store is now closed. Please bring your purchases to the checkout.

7:10 to 7:15 - last shoppers wander out, possibly buying a pop or some other small item, more usually just sauntering out after looking at the pets. Usually asking on the way out, “Are you closed? What time do you close?”

Then the checkers who are working until closing finally get to start counting the money - which we really don’t like to do with customers around, plus we have to leave one checkstand open until everyone leaves just in case they actually want to buy something.

I realize most stores are open until 9, but this is in the crummy part of town where the streetwalkers work, so if this store stayed open until 9 I don’t think they would keep any female employees, since it’s not safe even to go to the car once the Johns start looking for the hookers.

When I worked as a directory assistance operator, the callers consistently would not have a pencil or paper handy, even though they KNEW they had called to ask for a phone number and most likely would be given a phone number. And they would usually call with screaming kids and barking dogs and TV or radio on really loud, then tell the operator they can’t hear them.

10

Look at it this way, at least they are coming to you for something important. I mean really important, not made up important so you are providing something important.

Examples:
Not really important: “I ordered a Malt, not a shake you stupid #$%%%#$”
Really important: “My [loved one] is dying and I don’t know what to do.”

11

Ah, the PIT. We have no pits. Thing is, I’m talking about steady customers who know us (frequently by name), know the layout of the shop, and have been urged many’s the time to drive in. There are no hazards involved, and they know it. They are not strangers. That’s what I was getting at. New customers unused to our setup are another matter entirely. I don’t presume clairvoyance on their part. Were I to go to a shop I’d never been to before, I would certainly not drive right in unless I were assured beforehand that that was the drill. Even then, I might not until I knew more and became familiar with things.

I suppose I could focus on better things to tear my hair out over.

12

Well, okay, if I was a repeat customer I guess I would drive right on in and I wouldn’t have to be told several times to do it. :laughing:

Actually, I have sometimes felt like grabbing people around the throat about little things. But it is probably better to stick to tearing one’s own hair out.

I have been in a number of situations in which I was answering questions or giving instructions and there is a particular response that drives me insane. It is the non-response. These people, who I know to speak English well and to hear well, look at you but they don’t nod their heads, they don’t make any little sounds, the expression in their eyes doesn’t change----things most people do when you are speaking to them. They just look totally blank. Once I actually said, in a very polite way,to one of these people “Am I speaking English?”. She just kept the same blank look on her face and said “What?”. Precisely.

13

The light is GREEN!!!

14

Ah, the Great Wall that is the unending internal monologue.

15

I don’t know how many times I’ve had to ask for a client’s “pet’s last name”. People seem to think that if they say “Fifi is here for her appointment” that I’ll automatically remember Fifi from three years ago.

Also…when you ASK me for directions…LISTEN to what I’m saying. I give directions 10-20 times a day from every point in this state and beyond. I am VERY specific. Don’t interupt me to ask if I’m near John’s Diner or that City Bank on the corner.

If you tell me you want the soonest appointment, and I give you three different times that you don’t like, when I ask you what day and time you would like DO NOT tell me ‘anything – the first appointment you got’.

16

I can add to that one, just from having heard the people in the veterinary office have to deal with clients on the phone for years (when you have an 18 year old dog, you spend almost as much time in the vet office as some of the employees!)…don’t neglect to mention Fifi’s SPECIES. I’ve learned, after all these years, to say on the phone, “Hi, I’m Audrey Nickel and I’m calling about an appointment for my dog Cedar.”

And here’s one from my dad, who spent his life working in auto parts dealerships…don’t tell the mechanic that the problem is on the “right” or the “left”…tell him “driver’s side” or “passenger’s side.” If you say “right,” the mechanic has no idea if you’re talking about the “right” as you sit in the front seat or the “right” as you stand facing the car.

Redwolf

17

Back when I was in college, I sold admissions to our local dog track, which often had standing room only on the weekends. So, we would put up big signs that said “STANDING ROOM ONLY” and also TELL people as they came in to buy tickets that it was Standing Room Only. A much too common response was “Does that mean there’s no place left to sit?”. After patiently assuring them that, yes, that’s what it means, people would say, “Well, that’s OK, I’ll find somewhere to sit”. I would politely tell them that they will NOT find a place to sit (because after all, it’s standing room only), but they would be confident and buy their admission ($3.00). 10-15 minutes later these same people would be back at my window to ask for their money back “because there’s no place left to sit”. At which time I would have to point out the OTHER big sign by the sign that said STANDING ROOM ONLY that stated NO REFUNDS. “But”, they would say, “I didn’t know there wouldn’t be any place left to sit!”.

Beth