Aware, Much?

Hey, it's Customer Service Awareness Week worldwide! Yes, the fun ends on Friday (or Saturday, since that's usually the official weekender) but I'm sure no one gives a moldy old fart. Only the call centers and all the places that make a living providing good old customer care are whooping it up because yay, if no one will celebrate us, then we damn well will celebrate ourselves!

I think it makes sense because people are generally selfish and don't give an eff. As long as they get what they want, they'll forget that you ever helped them out or stuck it out through their momentary lapse into total stupidity. I've over two years experience with this, and seriously, longevity is hard to maintain when you're dealing with idiocy 24/7. I'm not knocking the dimbulbs, they're my bread and butter after all, but would it be too much to ask for a little bit of sanity in this crazy world? Don't people know how to read anymore, and are there any other excuses besides "your website sucks and it's so complicated?" Oh, right... there's "... but I booked it for Saturday!"

Whine, whine, whine. Blame, blame, blame. Only about 10% of people who call for help actually admit their own culpability. Another 15% are within their rights to be upset. The remaining 75% are whiney, tight-fisted, annoyingly demanding members of the human race who believe it is their God-given right to be in the right because hey, it's their money and it's not their fault they left their bloody airplane ticket at home, why should I bother to read the details? Okay, Mr. Smith. It's your money and your credit card, but try not to be a moron and be sure to read everything before you hit that "Pay Now" key, okay? Oh and Mrs. Jones? You yelling at me is not going to solve your problem. If you're too cheap to shell out a few extra dollars for a better place to stay, it's not my fault you're stuck in a dingy, cockroach-infested hump-n-pump. You get the full $39 you paid for, so suck it up. You haven't done shithole until you've done some select third-world wonders.

People keep asking why customer service seems to be dying out. True, it wasn't what it used to be. Since we insist on paying as little as we can to get as much as we can, it's not surprising. It gets compounded because they act all snotty and shit. To get some respect you have to earn it, and behaving like a petulant ass to the person who has the power to help you or to refuse help is not the best way to get on that person's good side.

That's right, we're celebrating how important our jobs are because we play a vital role in saving customers from themselves! Confetti, bitches. Confetti! We're saving the world a phone call at a time.