Angry Communications

[mousme]

I was just reading a post by bodhifox about people being nasty on the phone with him, and it occurs to me that everyone I know who works in a job that has them answering phones has stories about people who are horrible and rude and abusive. It seems that callers fall mainly into two categories: neutral and abusive. For every 100 callers, I'd say about fifteen to twenty are rude or abusive in some fashion, most range from barely tolerable to just polite, and maybe one (if I'm lucky) is deliberately pleasant with me.

I'd really like to know what it is that makes people feel it's okay to be that way with complete strangers. It's not just the relative safety of the phone, either. People are abusive with retailers and anyone behind a counter, too.

People just seem to be angry, a lot.

Comments

[elanya.livejournal.com]

Pervasive sense of entitlement. -_-

I think for customer service jobs it is worse, because a lot of time people call when they have problems. People rarely want to admit that things are their fault, and are starting with the impression that the phone reps are representing the Evil Corporation (or whatever) that is screwing them.

[vureoelt.livejournal.com]

Indeed, welcome to the internet era! People are increasingly used to instantaneous everything. -_-

Not to mention that society isn't as structured as it used to be. For instance, etiquette class used to be mandatory...

And, finally, I believe human thought processes skew people's perceptions towards negativity anyways.

[ai731.livejournal.com]

and are starting with the impression that the phone reps are representing the Evil Corporation (or whatever) that is screwing them.

The phone reps are representing the evil corporation that is screwing them. Even if the phone reps are actually being hired, trained, and paid by some third party customer service corporation, the fact remains that the only contact that the corporation offers its clients is through these reps. There is often no other way for a customer to have contact with the corporation except through these reps. I feel for them, I really, really do. But when I'm frustrated about a corporation making an error, any my only recourse is to talk to someone whose job it is to try to sell me more product from this same corporation, it takes a great deal of self control to be polite with them on the phone. I know they are only doing their job, and I know it's a sucky job. And I honestly feel sorry for them that they don't have any other job options. Knowing this, it's still hard to be polite when I'm getting screwed by the company they are representing.

[elanya.livejournal.com]

Oh definitely! I am the same. I'm not saying that if there is a legitimate problem then the frustration (at the company, directed at the rep) is necessarily undue.

However, I know enough people working in these kinds of jobs, and have heard many a tale which convinces me that a large percentage of angry callers are getting angry at the company for their own mistakes (i.e. are idiots who don't know what they're doing), and that's less fair :x "I don't know how to make this work/haven't read the manual/can't manage my own finances/etc so clearly it is your fault!"

[crowgirl13.livejournal.com]

I spend a goodly amount of time on the phone at work, and I'd say that it's more of a 10% rude factor for me. Instead, I tend to get confused people or people who automatically assume I have the ability to read their mind [which isn't bad really, just confusing]. This is also understandable - I work at a hospital, and people are seldom at their best when calling.

But the truly sad thing? 8 out of 10 of the rude people I deal with are *also* people who work at St. Mungo's.

[bodhifox.livejournal.com]

Insurance runs at about 1/3 rude, and 1/6 mean, and about 1/12 of them cruel.

[tcaptain.livejournal.com]

I don't know why this surprises anyone. Just look at the average internet forum, it's enough to make you weep.

I've found that the further removed a person is physically from a stranger, the ruder they feel they can get away with it. When I worked as a sales clerk, I'd occasionally run into a rude person but most were either neutral or quite polite and pleasant. On the phone, while working the answering service, I'd say 3 out of 5 were actively rude while the remaining 2 would be neutral. I once had a guy chew me out about the price of coffee when calling a plumbing office about the pipe to his coffee machine and say to me "You'll sit there and talk it you *&%@&& because I PAY you to take it!"...

On the net, it's even worse, we only see pixels and the worst of us tend to forget that there's a human being behind those words on the screen (I say "forget" rather than "ignore" because I haven't QUITE lost faith) and people have now decided that its a "sport" to start arguments and shock and insult people. Trolling is now considered an "art" in some corners...and that's just sad.

In closing I would like to link to this:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

Possibly the wisest thing I've seen in recent years.

[kiwano.livejournal.com]

After ~4.5 months of retail work, I have yet to really have an experience that I'd characterize as abusive. There are certainly people who are pretty deeply clueless, but I've usually found the customers to be quite polite, grateful for help received, and often quite friendly too.

Angry Callers

[ankhorite.livejournal.com]

In your job, I'd guess that
a. people are frightened and displaying anger instead
b. people are mad at someone else and you're just handy
c. both

But in retail and on help desks, I assume at least some of the people are driven over the edge by having suffered through multiple disconnections and interminable voice-mail menus before reaching a human.

However, that's an explanation, not a defense.