katalyna-rose:aqueerkettleofish:janeymac-ie: aqueerkettleofish: ilovecowdog: c-ptsdrecovery:People
katalyna-rose:aqueerkettleofish:janeymac-ie: aqueerkettleofish: ilovecowdog: c-ptsdrecovery: People on Twitter sharing mental health advice that helped them So I thought this was ridiculously silly the first time I heard it. Then I had a really bad patch and decided to try it. Not only did this help me feel better, it made my friends feel better. They liked hearing the positive ‘thank you for helping me/ catching that/ understanding that’ which helped them be happier around me which helped lift up my mood. This is also INCREDIBLY USEFUL in Customer Service. If I could teach one rule in customer service it would be “You’re getting paid to fix that idiot’s problem, it’s your job, quit acting like it’s not. You have nothing better to do with your time than to help that idiot with their problem, and they have no other way of getting that problem solved.” But if I could teach TWO, the second would be “Never apologize for anything that’s not specifically your personal fault.”“I’m sorry you were on hold for so long.”“Thank you for your patience; that was longer than it should have been.”“I’m sorry the last rep treated you that way.”“The last rep’s behavior was unacceptable; you won’t get that from me.”“I’m sorry to make you do this, but it’s necessary.”“I know this is unpleasant, and I sympathize, but this is what we need to do to fix the problem.” Been coaching new tech support call centre workers this week, and this is so true.I’ve been spending a lot of time telling them to acknowledge the thing without apologising for the thing. And the thing is… although callers might want an apology– they’re legitimately happy being told “This thing you are angry about is real, your anger is justified, and I’m gonna fix it.” But apologizing just makes them angrier, because now you’ve said “Oh, this is MY fault” and now, rather than a source of resolution, you’ve volunteered be a focus for their anger. It’s generally a good idea to apologize if YOU screwed up, but even then, if you can acknowledge the error you’re mostly there.“I figured out which idiot is screwing this up. ME. I’m the idiot. What say I try doing it RIGHT this time?”It’s very, very rare for the customer to WANT to be angry. (Those customers are the worst.) What they really want is someone to say “You have a legitimate problem, and a legitimate complaint. And this is my problem now.” I’ve been saying this for years to all my friends and family unfortunate enough to work in customer service. It’s something I adopted early on because I have to be careful of my own mental health, and was amazed to see how “thanks for your patience” instead of “sorry for the wait” literally made someone about to yell at me flip 180 degrees and smile.That said, most of this thread is about call center work. In retail, the number of customers wanting to be angry is higher. In the States, because I can’t speak for anywhere else, the older generations especially do not see retail and food service workers as people deserving of respect and can and will use us to vent their own frustrations and/or steal from the store using their anger at you as a distraction. Once got cussed out for using the bathroom because her bf was stealing our donations box. Also been told I’m lazy and a bitch and not doing my job for… doing my job. So, like, sometimes customers genuinely want to be angry, try to remember that it’s not about you. -- source link