An Open Letter to Service Providers

Service Providers of the World:

I understand that you have a job that primarily deals with people complaining and you trying to fix their problems. It sucks to listen to people complain. People are rude, people feel entitled to all sorts of crazy things, people think they are the most important thing in the world. I have been in your shoes. I understand. But there are things you can do to make your own life easier, and if you let yourself get jaded you are going to miss them and increase your own stress.

First of all, recognize when someone is trying to be reasonable. I have been on the phone with CVS and/or my insurance company (or visiting CVS in person) for a week now. I have constantly been told to try back another day. I have been extremely deferential. This has clearly resulted in everyone involved mistaking my politeness for a lack of urgency or an invitation to walk all over me. This is what eventually makes me a bitchy and rude customer that you hate. However, if that is the only way someone is going to get through to you, then I submit that it is your own fault for not helping me during my lengthy polite phase.

Secondly, do not interrupt people when they are asking a question or trying to explain themselves. Perhaps people who deal with prescriptions all day are used to elderly people asking the same questions and speaking very slowly, so they try to head them off by interrupting. Unfortunately, several times now I have been interrupted and had a lengthy explanation of a question that I was not asking. Add that to the bored tone and uninterruptable pace of the explanation and it ends up taking a pretty long time. By the end I still have to explain myself, but both of us are more pissed off. Again, this makes me a bitchy customer. Neither of us wants that.

Third, realize that when a customer is calling or visiting they are not really speaking to you, they are speaking to the company or group you work for. Not that customers don't respect their service providers, but if I have visited CVS five times over the past week, I have every right to be a bit annoyed at the lack of results. This is what I am upset about: CVS. Not you. Don't take it personally. If you engage my humanity you can get me on your side. Tell me this is the first time you're dealing with my case, and listen to my (very cogent and reasonable) explanation. Perhaps ask a coworker who may have dealt with me before, or have that person deal with me again. Do not treat me like a number. Is it a double standard, that the service provider is considered a representative of the larger group but the customer must be dealt with individually? Yes, it is a double standard. That is why I am paying you. Not so that I can be rude, no one has the right to be rude, but because I am unable to deal with this issue myself. Recognize that if you treat each case as unique, appeal to the basic politeness and understanding that is inherent to most of your customers, and empathize with how frustrating it is to be at the absolute bottom of a pyramid of rules and bureaucracy, then you and the customer can work together instead of against each other.

The bottom line is that everyone has been in the customer position of some frustrating system. Not everyone has been in the (sometimes equally frustrating) service provider position, or if they have not everyone has the presence of mind to generalize their experience to their interactions with you. I have tried to be very understanding in this regard, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. But if you don't acknowledge this attempt and treat me with contempt as if I am your most obnoxious customer, then natural defensiveness dictates that I eventually become an obnoxious customer. This doesn't make me feel any better than it does you, and Lord knows it's not any easier for anyone. So please, recognize polite and reasonable people, don't interrupt anyone (unless perhaps it's with a clarifying question), and don't take a customer's anxiety or frustration personally. Some people will always be rude and unreasonable, but most of your customers will appreciate and reciprocate your politeness, even if they don't realize it, because you will put them at ease.

Thank you for your attention. I hope we can all work together more effectively in the future.

Very Sincerely,
Jack Mack